Old school memories

I lived in Boulder from the time I was 16 until I was in my mid-thirties. Highschool, college, marriage, three houses, several jobs, and a lifetime were spent here. I remember having a huge crush on a boy named David back in 1971. When he announced one day that he'd joined the Navy for 6 years, I was devastated. I walked from the school seven miles into downtown Boulder across open fields filled with grazing cattle. My eyes bawling tears, it was a slow trip. I grabbed hold of a fence to pass between the barbed wires and was horribly shocked three times before I realized it was electric. It caused convulsions and I thought until the third time, that I was having a heart attack. The current passed from hand to hand thru my broken heart.

Yesterday, I walked to the old school through paved streets, and a bosque of trees along South Boulder Creek. Amazingly there are still a few remnants of open fields and even a few cows, it's not entirely filled with businesses and houses. I don't remember the exact route I took then, but it felt like my life had come full circle. I do recall an old red caboose sitting on a section of train track in someone's yard, and sure enough, it was still there. I remember a little wooden bridge across the creek, and though it may not have been the same one, I crossed that way this time too. In 1971 it was spring, now it's autumn. Pumpkins were for sale along the old road, now a major artery into subdivisions. There is still a little farmland and some people make a few extra bucks off the land. The lake next to the school is cleaned up and features an RV park. The dangerous road alongside the lake was straightened out after the near fatal accident I'd had with Tom, Fred, and Grant in 1970, our junior year. And now, as then, there are no sidewalks, not even a dirt path. One is not supposed to walk along that road, but I did then and now, braving traffic and probably irritating more than a few drivers.