Searching for old friends
When you're an army brat, or any kind of Global Nomad, it's difficult to maintain your relationships. I mean, we never had the luxury of going to school with the same bunch of kids and grew to maturity with them.
I had to reinvent myself every three years. Who am I in this new place? What kind of smile do I need to put on? My Girl Scout Smile, or my Mysterious Smile? What do they wear in this new school? Peter Pan collars? In or out? What if I make a mistake and don't get in with a good crowd?
Pat Conroy said it best: "We had no one to compare ourselves to, to measure our growth," or words to that effect. So why do I persist in trying to find my former classmates? I'm a more than grown woman, for goodness sakes. I have "civilian" friends in my "civilian" life. I've lived in Fort Worth for 30 years and have built up a network of good friends who did not live the nomadic life I grew up in. I am constantly amazed at one friend who forgets I didn't grow up here. She asks, "You remember the Cox family, don't you?" And I have to admit, that no, I don't remember that family. I gently remind her that I didn't grow up here, didn't get to see the people grow and change along the way. I arrived, full-blown, in this city and had no experience with its social life.
What I am looking for, I suppose, is someone who remembers the same things I remember. Who was with me the night we all walked home from a screening of "The Thing" at the Gugelhof Officers Club at age 14 and scared ourselves to death imagining The Thing falling out of a wood box in the park we had to traverse to get to our homes --- er, quarters? Who rode the bus with me on the day we got new, sleek olive drab colored school buses? Who was in the spelling bee where we had to drive to Vienna for the finals, and make sure our drive through the Russian Occupation Zone was swift, lest we be arrested as spies?
There are times I wonder if those scenarios actually happened. I have no one to confirm those memories as being true. Not the imaginings of a woman receiving Social Security benefits as a reward for a long life.
If anyone out there can relate to this recurring theme, please let me know. I would like some company as I stroll down memory lane.....While I'm still able to remember.
Tags: Once a Brat, military brats, army brats, global nomad, girl scout, Peter Pan, Pat Conroy, Fort Worth, Russian Occupation Zone, social security
I had to reinvent myself every three years. Who am I in this new place? What kind of smile do I need to put on? My Girl Scout Smile, or my Mysterious Smile? What do they wear in this new school? Peter Pan collars? In or out? What if I make a mistake and don't get in with a good crowd?
Pat Conroy said it best: "We had no one to compare ourselves to, to measure our growth," or words to that effect. So why do I persist in trying to find my former classmates? I'm a more than grown woman, for goodness sakes. I have "civilian" friends in my "civilian" life. I've lived in Fort Worth for 30 years and have built up a network of good friends who did not live the nomadic life I grew up in. I am constantly amazed at one friend who forgets I didn't grow up here. She asks, "You remember the Cox family, don't you?" And I have to admit, that no, I don't remember that family. I gently remind her that I didn't grow up here, didn't get to see the people grow and change along the way. I arrived, full-blown, in this city and had no experience with its social life.
What I am looking for, I suppose, is someone who remembers the same things I remember. Who was with me the night we all walked home from a screening of "The Thing" at the Gugelhof Officers Club at age 14 and scared ourselves to death imagining The Thing falling out of a wood box in the park we had to traverse to get to our homes --- er, quarters? Who rode the bus with me on the day we got new, sleek olive drab colored school buses? Who was in the spelling bee where we had to drive to Vienna for the finals, and make sure our drive through the Russian Occupation Zone was swift, lest we be arrested as spies?
There are times I wonder if those scenarios actually happened. I have no one to confirm those memories as being true. Not the imaginings of a woman receiving Social Security benefits as a reward for a long life.
If anyone out there can relate to this recurring theme, please let me know. I would like some company as I stroll down memory lane.....While I'm still able to remember.
Tags: Once a Brat, military brats, army brats, global nomad, girl scout, Peter Pan, Pat Conroy, Fort Worth, Russian Occupation Zone, social security
Labels: cleaning, Fort Sill -Lawton OK, inspection, memory, Military Quarters, The Thing film., WWII
posted by Marilyn Celeste Morris | 10:05 AM
2 Comments:
I finally found the time to sit here, download the trailer and read through your blog.
And, I found it interesting -actually, I found it fascinating!
Loved the trailer and from what I read of your blog, I'm sure I'll enjoy your book too!
Jeni: Thanks so much for your comment. It's nice to see who is actually reading my blog(s). And Dorothy did such a great job on the trailer.
Marilyn
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