stoney creek time machine

Driving past Burnaby yesterday, I took my wife and kids to the neighbourhood where I went to elementary school.

Besides new playground equipment, it surprised me how little had changed.

This made me sad: the maple tree out front is not doing well.

The bad news was that they razed the forest behind the townhouses that we used to play in, and the tree I planted next to our home looked pretty bad.

But the forest around the school looked intact.

This made me happy: the path through the forest to the school 

Everything looked so tiny, and I had to wonder for a moment how life may have turned out if my parents hadn't moved us away to India when I was 9.  It was the era of innocence.

I'm planning to look up my favourite teachers from back then and thank them:

• Ms. Kerr was the kindest kg teacher I could imagine
• I was in love with Ms. Raffin in grade 1, she was wonder woman to me
• Mr. Caldwell (Grd 3) introduced us to folk guitar which has been a big influence

The most unique thing about the school was morning assembly, where we all sang for a good 20 minutes every morning.  The same songs you might sing at secular camp.  I thought every school did that until I started asking people.  It really was a beautiful way to start the day.

During that era I was the same age as my boys are now.  My parents were faced with the same enormous task we face, that of shepherding the childhood of the next generation.  So much is different this time around, and so much the same.