Phillip Hong
15 October, 2007
As a child, I was dropped off every single morning by a school bus
plastered with a piece of green construction paper near the front doors.
Parkway Public School is located in a cosy neighbourhood in a more mature part
of Brampton. The potential jokes that could've stemmed from the road it
sits on, "Duncan Bull", is evidence that I grew up a very innocent
childhood. I always looked forward as a child to go back home and other
students could see that determination when they saw a daft, silly little
boy race to the school bus just a minute and a few seconds after the
last bell rang.
That useless procedure obviously paid off... I never missed the school bus.
The kind of life I lived back in my hometown was one full of fibre. Though
I didn't know many of the neighbours around me, I made sure that I didn't
get on anyone's nerves no matter what. It used to be important for me to
make sure that I left anyone I conversed with in a good mood by the time
I had to go.
It was a calmer life: The bullies were much more like a tame group of
bored teasers than anything dangerous that I've encountered later in life.
The only sport I was really good at during my childhood was the parachute;
who knew that a simple multi-coloured piece of fabric could be such a
great use of exercise when you have to deal with thirty or so kids? Part
of our gym curriculum also included the dance accompanied with "The
Macarena".
I thoroughly enjoyed putting my hands in front of me and doing
that little jig, which was sometimes done in the most unorthodox of
places; like the library.
One must wonder, however: with a crowd of children simultaneously putting
their hands on their little bums, why wasn't there a hygenic problem?
While I was attending Parkway, it wasn't.
Then there was the School Fair, which was held every Spring. And that
ridiculously simple song: "Blue white and green, we're wearing blue
white and green". I'm still reminded that these random colours were the
"...shades of Parkway School".
My computer fetish was first found while I was in Brampton. The annoying
cries for my own machine were originated when I first discovered what I
now think is quite a lamely program which lets children draw little
shapes and colours. The name of that program has long disappeared from
my brain.
I remember when they replaced their computer labs with Windows 3.1, the
first true operating system I dealt with. My eyes were lit with such
enthusiasm when my class received our own computer. That joy wasn't
shared with the girl sitting beside me. Caitlin was more interested in
remarking about how... big-figured I was (and still am).
The memories came flooding back and my eyes lit with the same joy when
Brandon and I came back to Parkway Public School in his uncle's Corvette,
a whole eight years after I last saw it. Some of the buildings still
lay on the property, save for the construction on a new addition and a
fresh layer of pavement.
My eyes were about to water, but Brandon shook me out of that terror
after joking about how potentially emotional I might become in seeing
what is similar to an "old friend" after so long. It was his
birthday after all.
The experiences and disappointments I experienced in my childhood while
attending this school served me well in the world ahead. It's somehow
dreadful to know that children today don't get to have such innocent
lives, but I will still remember the days when I raced to the school
bus to get home.
