While You See a Chance

And that old gray wind is blowing
And there’s nothing left worth knowing
And it’s time you should be going
While you see a chance take it

If you’re ever playing a Jeff Gary trivia quiz and the question “What is Jeff’s all-time favorite song?” comes up, the answer is “While You See a Chance” by Steve Winwood.

See. Don’t say that I “never gave you anything.”

The first words of that song are “Stand up in a clear blue morning…” I heard them for the first time as I was driving down Kingston Pike in my ’66 Mustang (or ‘The Stang’ as my high school buddies called it). I was listening to the radio when I heard the Winwood song for the first time. It came on the radio as I topped the hill at Lovell Road and saw Farragut High School framed by an electric blue sky.

On a clear blue morning…

At that moment, the sheer joy of being a senior in high school rushed over me. I had a great senior year – from start to finish – and that Winwood moment was just one of a cascade of memories that come back to me whenever I reflect on that magical year (even if I never did quite understand the meaning of the video).

I think that moment, and what it meant to me in the big picture, is why that song remains, to this day, #1 on the JG pop singles chart.

I’m not sure what song ranks at #1 on the PG chart (perhaps it is a number from “Into the Woods”) but it’s worth asking the question as he begins his senior year at FHS today. It’s hard to believe that our youngest is starting his senior year today.

Lisa took our traditional first day of school photograph this morning as she has done every ‘first day’ morning since we moved into this house (as he started third grade).

It joins the gallery with previous pics that mark these special “First Day of School” occasions.

When he finishes this year, Paul will have the unique distinction of having gone all 13 years through the Farragut schools. I doubt that there are very many FHSers who share that distinction. No one in our house does, that’s for sure.

Thinking about his years in the Farragut schools, it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that he was going to Farragut Primary School for the first day of kindergarten.

I told my sister yesterday, as she prepares for her oldest child to go to third grade, that the time really does fly by (and it does). It hardly seems possible that the first day of kindergarten was 13 years ago. Yet Lisa and I have learned the lesson that all parents learn: “Cherish these years. Time flies.”

And so it was as he left Primary School to transition to Intermediate School in 3rd grade and from Intermediate to Middle in 6th grade and Middle to High School in 9th grade.

That was a special year because it was also Holly’s senior year. The two of them really got close that year. It was the ONLY year during all their schooling that they were in the same school at the same time and I think they really bonded – especially during rides in the Gary family truck to and from school each day.

Paul was making his mark that year as a freshman but FHS was still Holly’s school and that was her year. Then, she graduated and he moved up to become a sophomore and the last two years have been excellent ones for him.

As he stands on the start line for his senior year, he really has the opportunity to finish his high school career on a very high note – in the classroom, in his social life, in his extracurricular activities.

And staying with the race metaphor, for us parents, the year will serve as a victory lap. There will be lots of ‘lasts’ as we go through this year – last home football game for “Admiral Dave”, last open house, last (insert name of event)… I’m sure it’ll be an emotional ride for us.

For me, personally, a graduate of Farragut High School, this year’s commencement will really be a second one for me. I did it once upon a time as a youth and now, after seven years with Gary kids at FHS, I will do it again next May.

Last weekend, Paul’s mom and I gave him our advice for the year – Have a great one. Make it special. Leave nothing on the table. No regrets. Squeeze every last drop out of this special year.

Or put another way, “While You See a Chance,” take it. That was the same advice the singer told me all those years ago and it is still very appropriate today.

JG

(Source: farraguths.knoxschools.org)

Originally posted 8/14/2012