so i lied

this will be quick.

so i'm in new york, which isn't where i grew up, but almost. i was born here, and lived in a connecticut suburb most of my life. so i have all these almost-memories floating around my otherwise occupied mind, just below the surface.

you know how that happens?

i'm reminded of trips to new york -- there were many, but not so many that i can't keep track of them all -- which means i'm being reminded of childhood, which i think maybe opens the floodgates to remembering all sorts of things i otherwise forgot.

i'm on the 21st floor. there was just a commotion outside, down below, which doesn't mean anything in new york really. it's just...um, among the hubub, i realized a flute was playing.

why? how? who knows.

but it was. and it was playing when johnny comes marching home. and i don't know if it was the song in general, or that rendition, or that it was being played on a flute, but i was suddenly -- shockingly -- reminded...

we played that song one year when i was in marching band.

i did not ever need to remember that.

but i did. and then just when i was contemplating whether or not my mind was remembering this fact simply because i was in the vicinity of my hometown, just when i was thinking maybe i was just over-familiarizing things here in the northeast, the flute played something else.

it played our high school fight song.

i can't even begin to know what to do with that.

Comments

  1. I think you're missing the most obvious explanation...

    A flute player from your high school band is currently outside playing for quarters. You should totally invite her up to your room for a shower and a tax-write-off room service meal.

    Have the concierge bring up a roll of aluminum foil so the flutist may repair her hat.

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  2. I had something witty to say, but jester made me laugh so hard I completely forgot it.

    On On, my friend!
    JC

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  3. maybe you are having auditory hallucinations

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  4. Perhaps you never had the pleasure of singing the song "When Johnny Came Marching Home". To fill in the blanks for you, I can still hear the alto section singing "where are the legs? WHERE are the LEGS???" even now. Some things are better left to High School, I say.

    As for the likelyhood of hearing your HS fight song on the street in Manhattan? All I can say is:

    Huh, Ole Ole Oh
    Huh, Ole Ole Oh
    Huh, Ole Ole Oh
    M V High Woo!!!

    Into each life a little high school must fall. Enjoy the memories - it's nothing but life and times until you forget.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is brilliant:

    "Into each life a little high school must fall."

    I will be attending LT's ten-year high school reunion in late August, in SOUTH TEXAS. I get the feeling that this will be a lot of high school. With a lot of sweat attached.

    ReplyDelete

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