Wednesday, October 17, 2012 —
As I make my way to and fro throughout Albemarle on my many adventures for the SNAP, I couldn’t help but notice a large sign hanging in front of the Old Central Elementary School building: For Sale.
I went to this school for the entirety of my elementary years and have many a fond memory of the place.
What will happen to it now?
Who would buy it? What will they do with it? Is it going to become some sort of government building or an outlet mall?
Who knows?
What I do know is that change is coming. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, either, but it does make the world seem a little more strange and confusing.
During my Central years around when I was in the first and second grade, I used to go to my Aunt Jody’s house after school until one of my parents got off work.
Aunt Jody made the best sweet tea.
I remember it vividly because my mother didn’t make it at the time, so to have it was special.
I never tasted anything so good, the perfect combination of tea bitterness with the cloyingly sweet accompanying sugar.
It was the perfect drink to begin my afternoon of play. Tea and fun went together for me like sunshine and happiness.
These memories of playing after school with cousins and drinking tea are some of the fondest of my childhood.
Nowadays, the only times of the year I can depend on to get a refreshing glass of Aunt Jody Tea are holidays.
With Halloween just around the corner and the other major holidays soon to come, I know my nostalgic beverage will be coming into the circle of my life yet again.
And with the contemporary obsession with Splenda spilling over into the world of my beverages — my mother makes Splenda tea, now — I depend on my aunt’s sugar-infused concoction now more than ever.
The Thanksgiving turkey just doesn’t taste right unless I’ve got a glass of Aunt Jody Tea to wash it down with.
I look forward to the tea over the presents tossed out at Christmas time.
I know her tea will taste just like it always has. That I can depend on. I hope it never changes.
This is one of the places where I derive solace.
Change can be good or bad, depending on how one wants to let it effect them.
Enjoy changes and revel in nostalgia, everyone needs a little bit of both to keep on going in today’s world.
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