I had forgotten what a good Missouri rainstorm feels like. How it starts with the smell in the air and a heaviness. The green of the grass merges into sky and the drops begin to fall. There is so much more water in each drop than I remembered - drops so heavy the leaves bounce with their weight. Lightning strobes and the thunder sounds like cannon fire - resonating long after it shakes your insides. The ground turns to swamp as the water seeps up over shoes, trying to suck them down into the earth. Mom and Dad would call them real "gully washers." Umbrellas are useless; resistance is futile.
And just like that - my day began - "fresh as a Missouri morning."
But around here, the weather changes as quickly as I change my mind - or my shoes (ask my husband about that). On this visit - I had a chance to explore the grounds of my childhood elementary school. Shepherd Boulevard School was designed as a neighborhood school. It turns out people were pretty smart about education around here in the early 70s - and they created this amazing little school that raised a generation of students who were some of the most tight-knit group of friends a person could imagine. I recall people in my high school commenting that the Shepherd kids had some kind of special bond. As an educator now myself, I think back and recognize some of the strategies. Small class sizes, a dynamic principal, and engaging teachers. It helped that there were only 2 classes per grade level. We were always together - and teachers often team taught.
As I walked the grounds where my formal education began, so many memories flooded my mind. I remember the games we played at recess. We had to have great imaginations - there wasn't much of a playground to speak of. My students now don't believe me when I tell them that we didn't have swings or slides or teeter totters. - we had giant cement culvert tubes, metal bars, and gray gravel to cushion our falls. I can't count the number of times I came home with bloodied knees, gravel embedded. But to us- the cement tubes became horses as our wagon train made its way though unknown territories. The gravel was an archaeologist's dream - as we sifted and picked the crinoid fossils out. The bars became ships and places we could challenge one another to contests of strength, endurance, and full-on tag wars. The stakes were high, alright. How many of my classmates lost a tooth or risked the cuts and scrapes to master the monkey bars? Who remembers playing Little House on the Prairie because Miss Allard read us the books or their special day when Mrs. Heitgard made us royalty of the day - or the amazing swap meets in Mrs. White and Mrs Fischer's classes - where we learned how to spend and budget money using real world application - as 5th graders?
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| One of the climbing devices at the Shepherd Blvd Elementary School Playground. I can't believe it's still there! |
All of this swept over me as Mom and I chatted and walked and talked about how much things have changed and how much is still the same.
Sultry afternoons in Missouri do wash into hot summer nights - and this visit I got to attend a concert series of this same name by the Missouri Symphony Orchestra. This evening it was a stunning performance of selections of music from all of the Harry Potter Films in the first half - and selections from all of the Star Wars films after intermission. The musicians had dressed the parts - with numerous Hogwarts robes, Hagrid, and even Hedwig arrived on the conductor's arm. There's were also Luke Skywalkers, Princess Leias, and storm troopers. Although I was disappointed there was no Chewie, the music was magical and out of this world. The best part - though- was sitting in the gorgeous Missouri Theatre in the balcony seat that bore my father's name. As I peered over the balcony - I remembered this was the very theatre where I saw the original Star Wars when it was first released. I think I went back at least seven times. It was truly groundbreaking. The Missouri Theatre was also a place we kids could escape the prying eyes of adults for a few short hours. My parents thought nothing of dropping me off at the movies with friends. The movie theatre was hard on the historic structure - so when the Missouri Symphony Society decided to buy and refurbish it - my dad and mom spent their spare time on hands and knees repairing chairs and scraping gum. Now here I was, sitting in a chair with his name on it, enjoying a concert in the theatre they worked so hard to save.
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| Program from the Hot Summer Nights concert |
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| Larry Morehouse nameplate on the balcony seat - front row at the Missouri Theatre. |
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| The Playhouse at Stephens College - another theatre that saved me. |
Lessons learned:
1. Sone days it's ok just to stay inside and enjoy the sound of the rain.
2. Entire worlds can and have been created from steel pipes, cement tubes, and a child's imagination.
3. Whether we save the theatre, or the theatre saves us - theatre saves.
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