I’ve Got a Feeling

Sure, I know, the title is another great Beatles song.  That’s not the feeling I am talking about though.  I am talking about a feeling that comes over me every once in a while. It’s a mixed feeling that contains a little excitement, a little envy, and a lot of  love.

I was overcome by this feeling, this Saturday, as I got to help a friend move her daughter into college for her freshman year.  I’ve gotten the same feeling at high school plays and musicals.  I remember tearing up when they played “Over the Rainbow” at Emma’s kindergarten orientation.  That was that feeling once again.  High school graduations spark it. So do spelling bees and science fairs. I know, I tend to be a sensitive male. Not that there is anything wrong with that!

I think the trigger for these feeling is seeing kids in a position of great potential.  To me it is so exciting to imagine the kind of lives these kids can have.  So that is the excitement part of my mixed feelings feeling. The love part comes from my sense of optimism and hope. I think you all know how positive I feel about life and the world we live in!  I want every one of these kids to have an awesome life. Yes, I love them all.  Even the ones that can, at times, be a pain in the ass.

So that leaves the envy part. I am 67. My days of potential are pretty much past me. Oh sure, there are lots of things, still, to do and to learn. But really, I think I am left with living vicariously through our youth. And that’s okay.

I think this is why I love coming of age movies and books so much. The testing, that a kid faces that makes them into the adults they become, is fascinating to me.  Think of the movies “Stand By Me” and “Mystic Pizza”.  How about the book “The Catcher in the Rye”. Wow! I think I should have become a teacher. Alas, too late now.

So, as another school year is about to start, I will continue to cheer for and support all the kids I know who are about to try new things.  Let the school plays, chorus concerts, science fairs, spelling bees, athletic contests begin.  I will be here with my envy and my memories. I was that kid once. It was a long time ago in a little town called Slatington and in a high school now called Northern Lehigh.  It was the start of something wonderful. Ahhh, to be seventeen again!