Jottings From Fifth & G: Remember these days

As the end of the 2023-2024 school year draws near, I imagine there’s a swirl of emotions in the air among the youth in our community. Excitement because of upcoming summer vacations. Trepidation because of complicated family situations. Concern that hunger may be around the corner. Relief that another tough school year is over. Nostalgia at leaving friends and moving on to a new school in the next school year. Anticipation as one chapter closes and a new exhilarating and maybe unknown one begins for high school graduates.

I think back to my school days at Loreto Day School Dharamtala in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. My school year coincided with the calendar year — January through December — with a few weeks off for summer holidays. So my school year synchronized with the calendar year and concluded before the Christmas holidays. This made looking forward to the trio of Christmas holidays, a new year and a new class (grade) year even more exciting. It was a tradition that as the end of our school year approached, we scrambled to collect “autographs,” or words of wisdom and witticisms handwritten and signed by classmates, teachers and others in an autographs book. I still have my 1976 autographs book, which measures 4-by-5 1/2 inches. Its blue, pink, green, and yellow pages contain lovely messages.

Here are a few:

“Do three things in life –

Drink, steal, and lie.

Drink from the fountain of youth,

Steal away from bad company,

Lie on the bed of success.”

“Everyone who loves you

Loves to see you smile.

Loves to see you cheerful

And happy all the while.

Smiling comes so easy

So do not wear a frown.

If you feel one rising

Always smile it down.”

“It’s hard to say what makes a friend

It isn’t look or style

Just something you cannot explain

That makes them seem worthwhile

It isn’t anything they say

Or anything they do

But what it is that makes a friend

I found it all in you.”

“Apples grow in Australia

Oranges grow there too

But it took a place like India

To grow a peach like you!”

I cherish this 48-year old little book dearly. I smile as I remember each person fondly, some of whom I still keep in touch with, thanks to technology and despite the fact that many of us our spread around the globe. But regrettably, I have lost touch with others as life happened. I wish I had done a better job of staying connected.

As I sip afternoon tea in my Loreto South Asia mug, a gift from my longtime school friend this past December and the author of the first message above, my thoughts return to the present and our community’s youth as they close out the school year in a few weeks.

My hope is that they have had a positive and productive school year, experienced meaningful life lessons and created a few great memories. My hope is that they have forged strong friendships, some of which may last a lifetime. My hope is that they cherish this phase in their lives — a precious time that they will remember well into the future as “those were the days, my friends” as the song goes.

My wish for our community’s youth is that they have an enjoyable summer, learn new life skills and maybe for some, make time to think about their futures. My dream is that our community’s youth will continue contributing positively to our world, lead with key breakthroughs in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) and make the world, and especially Lake Oswego, a better place for our collective future.