More to Remember

Friday afternoon I had a date over tea at the coffee shop I regular spend time at. I met up with Polli who I was in school however she was in the class after mine. We had not seen each other since my senior year in high school so been quite some time.

I arrived a few minutes before she did however when she came through the doors of the coffee shop she was easy to point out. You see Polli had not changed much at all. Of course we are both older but the years have been kind to us both.

She now lives in England which she pointed out has been as long as she lived in Gig Harbor however this town is still home to her. The children she has are all grown up and were raised in England. She told me the original plan when she and her husband moved to England was only to be there for a couple years or three but the ideas sometimes change. They moved to England for his job.

Both of her parents are gone so she owns the house she grew up in. The coffee shop is about half way between where I and she lived. I grew up on the east side of Gig Harbor on the waterfront while she lived west of the harbor on Wollochet Bay. Both of our cases we had docks. She asked me if I ever went fishing. I told her that I fished of our dock. She had done the same thing. She caught bullheads and flounders. We both laughed a little because that is all I was ever able to catch even though salmon did come into the harbor to go through the two creeks at the head of the harbor. The cats had the benefit of eating the bullheads we each caught. I believe my mother cooked the flounders I caught but Polli said that they never ate the flounder she caught.

Since we were not in the same class in school the only class we took together was choir when I was a sophomore and she was a freshman. I kept on with choir through school but for her she only was in choir the one year. She did play the drums in band. I played the trumpet in 5^th and 6^th but I was not very good at all. The band director gave me some lessons however it did not help. Playing the trumpet was not my talent and I felt sad because I wanted to so much. My favorite trumpet players were Louie Armstrong and the guy with the same first name as mine Herb Alpert. I had records from both of them and so wanted to be like them but was not meant to be. The band director suggested that I change to the drums but my parents said they would not by me a set of drums and I had already chosen the instrument to play. I was disappointed but I did understand. Both my brothers tried playing my trumpet to but they were not any better than me. I wonder if there was a curse on the trumpet it couldn’t be just us could it. If I had been able to play the drums Polli and I may have been able to play together a year or two. Oh well what could have been.

The time having tea together brought back the memories on how special Polli had been to me back then. It did not take much time for me to realize it so. Growing up in Gig Harbor was a special place and beautiful place to be however the other kids like Polli made it more special. I am sure most people feel the same where they grew up.

Polli is going to be around for a couple months including being in Arts Festival coming up in Gig Harbor in a couple weeks. We are planning to see each other again next Friday along with another classmate of hers who I have seen for tea a couple times. I look forward to know more about her life in England and going back to our time in Gig Harbor. We have the memories in the past but making new ones to even though short and on occasions. I look forward to see Polli whenever she comes back home for a visit. I am a very blessed man.