People, people everywhere..

I finally understand a quote from 7th grade English..i don't think it was ever about the water.

It’s funny what your brain decides to hold onto. Take middle school for instance.

I remember….

…my onry 8th grade history teacher who on the first day of class made sure to let us all know that we should never assume anything about anyone or anything. He wrote briskly on the white board in barely legible writing, A S S U M E. He turned around said, “you know why you should never assume? Because it makes”-& he underlined these letters in sections- “an ASS out of U and ME.” He was making sure right out the gate he was maintaining his reputation as a “tough guy but i’m cool”.

…the girl a year older than me who had actual apple bottom jeans. Yes. They said “apple” on one pocket, and “bottom” on the other.

…being the quickest typist in my computer literacy class.

…the jokes everyone made about a math teacher Miss Lake and how she was “as big as a lake”.

…our gym uniforms, grey t-shirts that may as well be made out of sandpaper, with black gym shorts that weren’t flattering on anyone, for good reason.

…my first pair of “Toms” shoes and feeling so stylish and cool because of them.

…the song “It’s Friday” playing every Friday in the lunch room and rolling my eyes with all my friends feeling too cool for that lameeeeee song.

…my friend stuffing her bra to get more attention from boys, and feeling embarrassed for her because you could obviously tell.

………

Turns out now that i’m sitting here typing all of this out, I could go on and on with little things I remember from middle school not to mention how much I disliked it VERY MUCH.

But there’s one thought provoking, actually interesting and could be someday beneficial to remember thing I took away from middle school that randomly came to my mind with complete clarity from a poster on the wall of Mr. Knudsen’s 7th grade English classroom.

This poster was of a small boat, probably more of a canoe, floating on still water with someone sitting in it and the words “Water water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”-The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

I stared at that poster the entire school year and never quite understood it. I tried to make sense of it in my underdeveloped 7th grade brain but more than anything at the time I was just fascinated by the words and image. Enough so that I remembered it all these years later. Something about those words and the lonely boat floating on endless water, stuck with me.

I think I finally understand it now.

Not because of the ocean. But because of us.

We live in a world of people, people everywhere. Messages everywhere, opinions everywhere, content everywhere, notifications everywhere!

Somewhere along the way, we’ve confused being connected with actually being known.

Maybe those aren’t the same thing after all.

xx

Carly