In the summer of 1956, Wake Forest College moved from its namesake town of Wake Forest 110 miles west to the hills of Forsyth County and more specifically the outer reaches of Winston-Salem where land and money had been given to build a new campus. In June of that year, my parents and two brothers moved there as well as many of my friends, as all of our parents were on the faculty of the school. Mine was the local pastor of the Baptist Church and the Chaplain of the college. And since Wake Forest had decided to start a new church, also to be called Wake Forest Baptist Church, we moved.

 

Growing up in a small town of 3,000, and a college town at that, is about as good as it gets. You get to go to all the football, basketball and baseball games, ride bikes, go to the only town swimming pool in the summer, walk to school and on the last day of class, go barefooted. Amazing.

So moving to a large and unknown city that was really a Carolina town wasn’t too appealing. But the school had built ten large faculty apartments (we were in 9A), and almost everyone who had moved, lived there for a time while homes were built on what came to be known as Faculty Drive.

We didn’t know anyone, and no one knew us. Oh sure, Winston-Salem hosted a large and somewhat formal Welcome to us at the Memorial Coliseum, not far away, and our pictures and articles about our families were in the local afternoon paper. But when you are in the sixth grade, that doesn’t mean too much.

I remember the summer was spent riding bikes on the campus, taking the new elevators that you could operate yourself up and down in Reynolda Hall so much that the President of the college finally had to call my father to ask that I and some of my friends simply stop. No one else had been able to use them. And an indoor swimming pool and four basketball courts and six ping pong tables in one gym!

And then the dreaded month of September came, and we all had to go to a new school. Because of where we lived, we went even further away from the city to an elementary school called Old Town. It was an imposing place with large white columns in the front and a cool gym of its own in the back. I had never ridden a school bus until then. I had always walked.

I was in Mr. Lloyd’s class. I don’t remember much from that year except Mr. Lloyd had played football at Miami and allowed me and another friend to leave class a lot to referee basketball games for younger kids in the gym. I even tried out for the basketball team, though I was too short and not very good. My only good moment was in the father –son game when I was to dribble the ball between the legs of Bones McKinney and then go in for a layup. It all worked great, except of course I missed the uncontested shot.

But that year stands out in another real way for me. Old Town really welcomed me and my friends and made us feel at home. I have never forgotten that, and although I only went there one year, I readily accepted and was very excited a few weeks ago when a lady from Winston called and asked if I could come to an elementary school reunion on May 4. How quickly can you say yes? Going back in time to when we were young, small and full of promise, even for a night, is magical.

The best diet I ever went on in my life was the time I worked at the 42^nd Street Oyster Bar. It was completely involuntary. I had to be at work before 5:00 p.m., which meant I missed dinner. I was around food most of the night and soon saw so much of it, I didn’t want it. But then before things got so strict, another waiter and myself would often have a salad about 8:00 p.m. or so, whenever there was a break.

I guarantee if you walk around, and sometimes run, every night for about six hours, from 5:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m., you will lose weight. And you will even be able to have a glass of wine at the end of the evening.

The problem though is that most people my age don’t work in a restaurant, or if they do, they don’t wait tables. But lots of folks have, though most often when they were young, working their way through school. What waiting tables is…is walking and exercise, and because of the time schedule, eating less.

I have recently lost some weight, though not unfortunately by exercise, but by eating less. I have read no books or followed any strict regimen, unless you call giving up fast food, bread and pasta a regimen…and ice cream. All the basic and necessary foods.

How many times have you told someone at a clothing store, or told yourself, when you were going to buy something, that it was okay to get the smaller size because you were going to lose five pounds or an inch off your waist? And it never happened.

But now it has! The tough times though are only beginning. How to keep the pounds off? I will tell you how. Three years ago, my kids, Jeff and Stacy, gave me a green sweater for Christmas. It was my size, but I never wore it because it was a little tight…actually very tight. A month ago, before this last Christmas, I put it on and what do you know, but it fit…very nicely. They thought I had bought it myself.

Now, the only problem is that several years ago, Jeff had given me this great sweater, and I couldn’t wear it so I gave it back to him, and now he wears it. I need to figure out how to get it back.

The best diet I ever went on in my life was the time I worked at the 42^nd Street Oyster Bar. It was completely involuntary. I had to be at work before 5:00 p.m., which meant I missed dinner. I was around food most of the night and soon saw so much of it, I didn’t want it. But then before things got so strict, another waiter and myself would often have a salad about 8:00 p.m. or so, whenever there was a break. I guarantee if you walk around, and sometimes run, every night for about six hours, from 5:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m., you will lose weight. And you will even be able to have a glass of wine at the end of the evening.

The problem though is that most people my age don’t work in a restaurant, or if they do, they don’t wait tables. But lots of folks have, though most often when they were young, working their way through school. What waiting tables is…is walking and exercise, and because of the time schedule, eating less.

I have recently lost some weight, though not unfortunately by exercise, but by eating less. I have read no books or followed any strict regimen, unless you call giving up fast food, bread and pasta a regimen…and ice cream. All the basic and necessary foods.

How many times have you told someone at a clothing store, or told yourself, when you were going to buy something, that it was okay to get the smaller size because you were going to lose five pounds or an inch off your waist? And it never happened.

But now it has! The tough times though are only beginning. How to keep the pounds off? I will tell you how. Three years ago, my kids, Jeff and Stacy, gave me a green sweater for Christmas. It was my size, but I never wore it because it was a little tight…actually very tight. A month ago, before this last Christmas, I put it on and what do you know, but it fit…very nicely. They thought I had bought it myself.

Now, the only problem is that several years ago, Jeff had given me this great sweater, and I couldn’t wear it so I gave it back to him, and now he wears it. I need to figure out how to get it back.

Hello and Goodbye

The Cycle of Life

In the mid 1960’s, Hugh Sidey, a longtime reporter and columnist for Time magazine, wrote a book about the life and times of President Kennedy. I have always remembered a line he wrote about the President’s assassination… “The man who controlled so much and so many was, in the end, not the master of the length of his own line”. In essence, that is true of all of us.

Just this past weekend, I learned of the death of two people, one a former neighbor and English professor at Wake Forest University who lived till the age of 101. Indeed, in June, she would have turned 102. She lived a full and rich life, interacting with scores of young people for literally decades of time. And then, on Sunday, with other friends, I went to Dunn, North Carolina to see the family of the father of one of my great friends. He had died suddenly last week at the age of 82.

It was all rather depressing, making one open more quickly the back pages of the newspaper to see who was no longer with us.

And then, the newspaper was full this weekend with the all too common story of a young teenager in Raleigh, who lost her life at the age of 18, when she was the passenger in a car, that was being driven much too fast, late at night. Someone was alive, full of life and promise, and then in a moment, it was no more.

Life can be unfair. But life is all we have and so why not make the most of it while it is ours. I thought about that a couple of days ago, when a good friend of mine, came over to my place, with another, to sit and wait while her grandson was about to be born at Rex Hospital. The young mother, her daughter-in-law, had started her contractions and had been admitted to the hospital earlier in the evening. Surely, it would not be long before young Mason would open his eyes and take his first look at the world and say hello. And it wasn’t.

It is the cycle of life. It is a wonderful thing to see and experience. And it can be fleeting for any and all of us. So enjoy each day you have and live it completely. Don’t cut yourself any slack. Just go for it.

Still, isn’t it pretty nice and comforting that whenever we have to say goodbye, we also often get the chance to say hello.