Meridian High Alumni Message Board

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Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort

On a nostalgic whim, I've been reading a lot of the stuff we posted through the years in this thread. Almost breaks my heart, missing Robert, Tony and Linda, and the wonderful work we used to produce. I do miss them and the daily exchange of ideas and conversation. This was always my favorite of all the threads.

And, I miss Buzzy and Jimbob from the other threads. Hard to believe so many of the original motley crew have passed away.

Some of these good folks I met on the original incarnation of this message board back in 2001. Then different ones joined through other incarnations of the board over the years. Each, in their own way, felt like old friends.

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Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort

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Jeff "Corky" East
Class of 1960

I thank my God in my every remembrance of you, Meridian, and the wonderful childhoods some of us had.

I love to read Garrison Keillor's "Writer's Almanac". I find the most delightful poetry there sometimes. I just happened upon this....

A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW
by David Shumate

I'm sorry I won't be around a hundred years from now. I'd like to
see how it all turns out. What language most of you are speaking.
What country is swaggering across the globe. I'm curious to know
if your medicines cure what ails us now. And how intelligent your
children are as they parachute down through the womb. Have
you invented new vegetables? Have you trained spiders to do your
bidding? Have baseball and opera merged into one melodic sport?
A hundred years....My grandfather lived almost that long. The
doctor who came to the farmhouse to deliver him arrived in a
horse-drawn carriage. Do you still have horses?

I tend to ponder what the future will hold, too. Things we take for granted now will become obsolete. It is already happening at such a rapid pace. Any technological savvy I have ever acquired has become so by the end of the day I've learned it. LOL I feel like a dinosaur sometimes. I still laugh at the two bits of advice my mother gave me when I was growing up: (1) If you can type, you can always get a job; and (2) If you can play the piano, you will be the life of any party. What a hoot. Neither of those has applied for probably thirty years or more. I love to speak with folks who are in their nineties just to hear what they've seen in their lifetime. It's amazing. The future both excites and frightens me sometimes. But, I suppose it's been that way since time immemorial, especially to those of us who are entering geezerhood.

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Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort

_________________
Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort

P.S. The commemorative Anniversary Hymn that I wrote (5 posts above) was beautifully scored by an Anniversary Committee member who has a degree in music. A really lovely framed copy is now displayed in the church's Historical Room. The choir learned it and taught it to the congregation. It was sung as the Hymn of Commitment at Sunday's worship service. Because we're probably just a couple of years from Mark's retirement and our having to leave First Baptist, I am pleased that this little bit of me will be left for the future generations. I'm hoping between that and the folder full of my plays and poems that I might be remembered as a kinda "fun" pastor's wife. Hope so, anyway.

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Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort

This is today's "Writer's Almanac" offering:

RADIO
[by Louis Jenkins]
When I was a kid I listened to the radio late at night. I tuned it
low as I could and put my ear right up next to it because my dad
didn't like it. He'd say, "Turn off that radio. It's after midnight!"
No matter how low I tuned it he could still hear, from down the
hall and through two closed doors. He was tired. It had been a
long day and this was just one more thing, the final thing, keep-
ing him from the sleep, the absolute dead silence he wanted. As
for me, whatever music I was listening to, some rock station way
down on the border, probably, "100,000 watts of pure power,"
has become even more faint over the years. But I can still hear it.

That brought back memories of when I was in Junior High and got my first transistor radio for Christmas. I loved to go to sleep at night listening to all of the wonderful current pop music with the radio propped beside my pillow as low as I could turn it and still hear it. Invariably I would fall asleep and run the battery down. That used to make my parents so mad that they were always having to buy me new batteries for that radio.

_________________
Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort

_________________
Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort

Over the past couple of days I have gone back and reread every single post in this thread. It was a very nostalgic experience. We really did have some wonderful and prolific poets on this site in the old days. I miss it and them.

_________________
Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort

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Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort

Donna, this is not really a poem but a little jingle that I came up with a few years ago:

I call it the Highway 80 Jingle (as if you are driving from Meridian to Jackson on Old Highway 80)

First you FIND yourself in Lost Gap
then there is No Junction in Meehan (at least not anymore!!!)
next up you roll through Chunky "the town that eats like a meal"
then there are "no nuts in Hickory",
then onward to the following hamlets/towns/villages
No Figs in Newton
No Welk in Lawrence
No Water in Lake
No Trees in Forest
No Salt in Morton
No Prince in Brandon
and finally No Stonewall in Jackson
and I guess for an encore No Bill or Hillary in Clinton ( )

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John Harwell
Class of '79
Go Wildcats!!!!!!

That's good!

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Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort