Frozen in time!

   One of the things I have become increasingly aware of as I have gotten older is 'time'. I know that in each minute is sixty seconds, each day has twenty four hours and each year, 365 days, with an exception of once every four years. No one has any more or any less than anyone else. But the older I become the faster time seems to pass.

   Now somewhat retired, it is not that I have more or less to do. It is just that the things that pass the time each day are different. And of course I will throw in the occasional afternoon nap, not always a good use of time, but something that does happen once and a while.

   The passing of time often give cause for reflection, reflecting on the past and I would venture to say that my generation can reflect upon some of the biggest changes in centuries. We have seen men go to the moon, computers become an important part of everyday life and new discoveries that have only begun to shape the ever-changing world.

   But every once and awhile there is that special moment that seems almost 'frozen in time', raising the question...”Have things really changed that much?” I had one of those moments not too long ago and it haunts me just a bit.

   You know you have lived a long time when you begin to get invitations to attend and/or speak at events, especially those where buildings are being closed or torn down, the message being that they have outlived their usefulness. That was the situation for me recently.

   The school consolidation effort in Maine over the past several years has not gone well and many small towns and communities have lost their identity, the result of school closings. At the elementary level, it is difficult. But I believe that the closing of a high school can be even more traumatic. A history of local rivalries, the tales and stories of the big games.....become only memories and with the high school gone, will they be forgotten forever?

   Along the shores of the Androscoggin River in western Maine sit two small communities, once thriving because of the paper mills and the wood industry, but now only an empty shell of what they were. In those early years heroes were born, legends were made, and life was just about as exciting as it could get. Whether it be a Friday night football game in the fall, basketball in the winter or baseball in the spring, there was always great excitement and always something to do. And it was fun.

   But the mills shut down, old people grew older, and the young people moved away. The population and the area could not longer support what had once been...and it was time to do the unthinkable.

   As part of the transition and bringing a respectful closure to the high school, a group of students, who will be the last to attend the school, are putting together a video. They are asking retired teachers and administrators who worked their to share some of their thought and fondest memories while working at the school. I was honored to be asked to participate.

   MSAD 36 and Livermore Falls High School was my first school superintendency and looking back, I was really young, just a kid in the eyes of some. But it was a great experience and difficult not to become part of the great community and be included in some of the rich traditions. And yes, those Jay- Livermore Falls rivalries. Who can forget!

   As I stood at the end of the second floor hallway on this day, something I had done many times before, it was as if nothing had changed. It looked exactly the same. The lockers were the same, the colors were the same. The hallway sounded the same, the noise and chatter coming from the classrooms. It was as if I were 'frozen in time'. 
   I walked to the other end of the hallway and looked out the large floor to ceiling windows. The view from the second floor was still as I remembered it, the picturesque valley and the surrounding mountains. This time of the year the trees are  lush in springtime greens and sky a bright sun kissed blue.

   I have not seen the video, but one of the final final shots is of me standing by the front doors and after one final 'look 'down the hallway, I turn and leave the building, the doors closing behind me. It signals not only the ending of a period of school history, but also the beginning of a new era.

   As I walked the hallways that day, I was aware that more than twenty years had passed and yet, it seemed like only yesterday. But then, good memories are never forgotten, and even thought time may pass, memories last forever,

   It will be sad for the community as the doors of Livermore Falls High School close for the last time. But there are new adventures to enjoy and new memories to be made.