Reminiscing is always a joy for me, especially with someone who knows about my hometown and understanding silly references no one in Milton would understand, unless they know about Hueytown, Alabama.
Not hailing from Santa Rosa County, very few people know anyone from my childhood, only those memories I may make a reference of during conversations, like living in the same neighborhood as Neil Bonnett, the time I got a speeding ticket chasing an old boyfriend, the big party I threw without my parent’s knowledge and so forth. I saw someone recently from high school who lives in the county. His name is Joe Don. While catching up, we compared notes about children, grandchildren, respective spouses, where we live and so forth. It was when Poe, Chaucer and Thoreau came into conversation my mind began to reel back to high school. I could see the hallways, hear our history teacher, Mr. Dennis, say “Excellent, Pamela, excellent!” We both had the same advanced English teacher (albeit in different years as he was two years my upperclassman), Mrs. Drulman, who made us all recite parts of “The Canterbury Tales” general prologue in Old English.
My friend recited a couple of poems from Thoreau but Mrs. Drulman’s voice began in my head starting with the 10th verse:
“(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially from every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke
That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember any of the poem throughout our reminiscing. He asked how a girl from Hueytown found herself working for a local newspaper in Milton, Florida. My answer was simple. I’ve always been a writer. I will always write.
My early education in English literature and speech in high school served me well. Remembering Hueytown High School back in the ‘80s, I’m thankful for the time and effort it took to teach a young girl, a golden gopher, how to focus her passion into a writing career. It’s also nice to have someone know my childhood friends, teachers, locations and possibly, why I’m so quirky.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Joe Don and Chaucer