PINING FOR SIMPLER TIMES: BENT MOUNTAIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

The Florin family is at a crossroads.  Actually, it's probably just Mama Florin who is stuck in the middle of the street.  The rest of the family seems to be moving along just as they should be.  We all raise our children to become responsible members of society, to be healthy and independent of us.  And I believe that God has even fashioned something into the DNA of a child that prompts them towards that self-reliance.  If you have raised a child you have undoubtedly experienced what I'm talking about....at about age two....at about age 11....at about age 16.  Sometimes the progression is easy and organic, and sometimes it is downright nasty.  But most kids do learn how to breathe outside of the womb, and most learn at some point that they are not their parents.  Some even learn to respect the wisdom of their doddering aged elders. 

We did have a slight advantage over the rest of the world before thrusting our children into the deep, vast unknown.  Sweet Bent Mountain Elementary School.  The powers that be tried for the last 30 years to shut down the smallest of Roanoke County Schools...which was finally accomplished about a year ago.  

Bent Mountain Elementary wasn't exactly economically feasible in this age where not much is.  But oh, what a model.  When Cameron entered kindergarten in 1997 he joined about 66 other local kids... in the entire school.  The school was not only a microcosm of our Bent Mountain neighborhood such that it is, but actually a pretty good petri-dish for all of American society.  His class of 18 and most every class that followed or came before was completely diverse: racially, socio-economically, religiously.  And...guess what, America?  It completely worked. 

Emma followed into kindergarten the following year, she and six of her best friends.  Her class wasn't quite as diverse as it was much smaller and that skewed the demographic somewhat.  She was the only girl in the third through fifth grades;  because they were so small in number they combined with the class a year younger for some of their subjects..  But for part of the day her class was just six.  Emma was the only girl and she sat in a fancy wing chair while the boys all sat at her feet on the floor.  If you know my daughter you will understand how formative that was to her self-esteem.  She was and always has been "the Go-to girl" and "The Boss".  Of "THE WORLD". 

But good things can't last forever and my children eventually graduated from the fifth grade.  They went on to middle school at small private schools, mostly because both my husband and I moved from small schools to a LARGE public school at the tail end of high school.  Larry and I met and fell in love partly because we found each other in the sea of a huge high school where we both were overwhelmed and somewhat lost, not at all understanding the whole jock, freak, popular, geek thing.  We had come from small schools where we had solidarity BECAUSE of being different people, not lumped into a group of young people who we really had nothing in common with, because we were different.

Anyway, I am completely thankful for Bent Mountain Elementary: for the wonderful teachers who made do with second hand copies (something already on the back) and not so much money for field trips.  For the parents, who not only had to join the PTA, but to hold some major position during their tenure.  For their classmates, who still love one another and will forever, even as they move away from the mountain and pursue their dreams.  I am in a period of reminiscing...as I try to transition into this new phase of empty nest.  I reminisce, and I am very thankful.