Tag Archives: Coral Park Elementary School

Tempus Fugit (Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition): A (School) Day in the Life, February 1973


Well, Dear Reader, with less than 17 days until my 60th birthday, it’s time for (yet) another Tempus Fugit piece related to this landmark birthday. On this day in 1973, which fell on a Friday, I was at Tropical Elementary – more likely than not – in Mrs. Chambers’ Special Education class in Room 29.Continue reading “Tempus Fugit (Countdown to the Big Six-Oh Edition): A (School) Day in the Life, February 1973”

Tempus Fugit: Remembering Mid-December, 1972: New School, New Girlfriend, and Apollo’s Last Hurrah


“December is the holdout month, all the others torn away.” ― Anne Gisleson, The Futilitarians: Our Year of Thinking, Drinking, Grieving, and Reading With Christmas Day of 2022 only 12 days away – and New Year’s Eve 18 days in the future – and my move to Brandon looming on a date that is “TBA”Continue reading “Tempus Fugit: Remembering Mid-December, 1972: New School, New Girlfriend, and Apollo’s Last Hurrah”

Tempus Fugit: Remembering Cheryl T- 50 Years Later, Part the Third


As I stood there, Cheryl gave me a quick hug, then stepped back a few steps, her eyes fixed on me. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, Cheryl straightened up and unbuttoned her pink sweater. Even though it was cold and her blouse was made from the same material as my shirt, she doffed the sweater and held it out to me.

I must have shaken my head or made another gesture of protest because Cheryl looked at me sternly and handed me the sweater.

Knowing that I didn’t speak English fluently but intuiting that I understood body language, Cheryl mimicked someone putting on a sweater. She did this once, twice, and when she saw that I was reluctant to don the sweater – I didn’t want her to get cold, either – she did the Marcel Marceau bit one more time. “It’s cold, sweetie. Please, Alex, put it on,” Cheryl said.

I wanted nothing more in the world but to please her – and see her smile again – so I nodded in assent, took the sweater from her hands, and put it on, clumsily and with some effort because I was cold and nervous. It felt soft, warm, and smelled lightly like lilacs – not exactly a manly scent, to be sure – and it was the nicest thing that had happened to me at Coral Park since the beginning of the school year.

Tempus Fugit: Remembering Cheryl T. – 50 Years Later, Part the Second


Last Time, on Remembering Cheryl T….. “You can love someone so much…But you can never love people as much as you can miss them.” ― John Green “There’s no love like the first.” ― Nicholas Sparks When I was nine years old and a third-grader at Coral Park Elementary School, I fell in love withContinue reading “Tempus Fugit: Remembering Cheryl T. – 50 Years Later, Part the Second”

Tempus Fugit: Remembering Cheryl T. – 50 Years Later, Part the First


Prologue: The Fragility of Memory One of the things that bother me about the nature of memories is how fragile, how unreliable, and woefully imperfect they are. Take, for example, my memories about an event that occurred when I was 20 years old – my last day as a high school student at South MiamiContinue reading “Tempus Fugit: Remembering Cheryl T. – 50 Years Later, Part the First”

Tempus Fugit: Fractured Memories of Halloween 1972


“There are moments when I wish I could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but I have the feeling that if I did, the joy would be gone as well.” ― Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember Fifty years ago, when I was nine (going on 10) years old, I livedContinue reading “Tempus Fugit: Fractured Memories of Halloween 1972”

Tempus Fugit: Remembering ‘Cheryl T.’


“Better to have to retrace your steps and then move forward than never to move forward at all.” ― Anne Burack Sayre, The Birthday Book Club Snatching: The Melinda & Simon Series I promised, not too long ago, that I’d tell you a bit more about “Cheryl T,”  the cute auburn-haired girl who sat twoContinue reading “Tempus Fugit: Remembering ‘Cheryl T.’”