Rehab Brings it All Back Home

Week 17

Rehab Brings it All Back Home

Tweets

1. Here’s another Allan, and if you’ve been following, another who’s out of my life but not forgotten.

2. The beauty of poetry is that you really don’t know what you’re going to write until you do.

3. In retrospect, grade school was so full of everything. My life today barely keeps pace.

4. It’s so enriching to see talent and character for what they are, even if it’s decades later.

5. How I am shamed by Allan, who had so much more than I did that I thought was less.

6. What does stature mean to you?

7. Poise matters.

Alone

The other Allan,

who spelled our

name the same

way—unusual, that

juxtaposition—was

a grade-school classmate

struck hard by polio

in sixth grade and

left an empty desk

among us for six months.

When he returned

with those clunking

leg braces and

elbow crutches

we welcomed him, I’m sure,

with fear on our faces.

He seemed none the less

for wear in class, as he

was one of our brightest,

with a technical bent

and shone in class projects.

He missed recess with us

and ate lunch alone

as the rest of us

scampered home.

One day I stayed back

and sat with him.

It was good.

I felt his aloneness

but no loneliness.

                        Remembering now,

our eighth grade

graduation picture,

there he stood full stature

among us boys in the back,

strong face, warm smile.

Where are you, Allan?

This blog is dedicated to my friend Randy Lewis,

Senior Vice President, Walgreen Co.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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