There Ya Go
Even with my mortal enemy Facebook omnipresent in today’s world, it can sometimes be difficult to keep track of people from our past. And since I avoid Facebook like the dentist — I don’t have time to stalk people anyway — I have lost track of old friends, from both high school and college. Perhaps that’s why I don’t really have many friends?
But I have created my own loophole, and that’s our “Catching up With …” series that is published from time to time in the Headlight.
Before the first “Catching Up” story was published a few years ago, I remember always wanting to develop a series like this as way for people from Tracy and the surrounding area to, well, catch up with people who graduated from Tracy Area High School, people who we all have lost track of.
Last week’s piece was a special one for me personally. In case you missed it — first, how dare you? — it was on Bruce Remme, who graduated a year after I did.
Bruce and I were pretty close in high school. We both played numerous sports, but more than that, we grew up together outside of school as well. The Remme family moved to town in 1980 when I has 9 years old, and it didn’t take long for us to develop a friendship.
Bruce and Matt Rettmer grew up a block apart on Hollett St., and I grew up on Center St. a few blocks away. Because of our proximity in both age and logistics, we did everything together. We were hard to separate during the spring, summer and fall months. We practically invented street sports in Tracy, playing everything from hockey to football on the pavement.
Was it dangerous? Maybe, but back then, it didn’t matter. Most people driving down Hollett or Center streets knew full well that they would be interrupting some kind of sport. Some didn’t like it, honking and yelling at us because we slowed them down, but most simply waved, knowing that’s just what we did.
If we weren’t in the middle of a street, we were at the pool, or a baseball field somewhere, or an empty lot — Bruce had a great one behind his house. We even rode our bikes from Tracy to the golf course for a quick round or four. The three of us also took mini vacations together, one year going so far as Arnolds Park in northern Iowa.
That’s the beauty of youth. The beauty of doing my “Catching Up” stories, especially ones that include an old friend, is being taken back in time. Ever since I interviewed Bruce, I’ve been doing just that — reliving my glory days. Things were different back then, and remembering those great days makes me feel bad for today’s youth who are too busy to be young.
Today’s kids are involved in just about everything, and activities run year-round, meaning anyone involved in sports don’t have the luxury of being a kid — riding bike around town, starting a pick-up game of basketball, baseball, football … whatever, the sport really didn’t matter.
And if kids today aren’t playing an organized sport, they’re on their phones, neck tilted down as they fall into a digital rabbit hole that’s hard to escape. It’s not their fault, really. Cell phones are an addictive trap that in a way robs kids of their youth.
But I digress. I encourage everyone to slow down a bit and think of when you were kid and had time to “get into trouble” or just hang out.
A memory is only useful if you use it, and in today’s hectic world where we’re all constantly fighting to find time to breathe, it’s hard to stop and smell yesterday’s roses.
