On a particularly slow Saturday in June, I attacked a neglected whiteboard in the lifeguard breakroom. The long forgotten dry erase markers had left a lasting imprint of days gone by. The one time “erasable” tallies etched below the names of a veritable Who’s Who of former employees now seemed carved in stone. Seeing the young people’s names on that board was a walk down memory lane. Lifeguards that left a mark on my world like the little lines below their names that had now become so hard to wipe away.
I snapped a Before & After picture and was happy to throw out a quick text message to those that remained in my contact list. I thought it might bring a smile to a bunch of 20 somethings on a particularly slow Saturday in June.
Urban legend has it that the tallies, whether actual or exaggerated,
marked the inadvertent slip of a customer’s bathing suit. Each lifeguard
accumulating one tally for each flash of a breast or a cheek. If my math was
correct and the tallies trustworthy, we should have been shut down long ago. Or
at least offered counseling to the teenagers that regularly saw more wardrobe
malfunctions than they signed up for.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the text messages and playful banter
back and forth on a particularly slow Saturday in June. The cool kids hit
emojis, a playful quip and the send button while I watched it all scroll by,
remembering a group of kids that I once knew.
Amelia said, “this is my drag path actually”. To which I
understood but had not heard used that way before. Trying too hard to keep up
with the younger generation, I Googled it and now I know…
The literal meaning is easy to me, a man of the woods. Drag
Path is the physical trail left behind by something heavy dragged across the
ground. But metaphorically it refers to the lasting imprint of life’s journeys.
Proof that you’ve survived. Your Breadcrumbs of personal experience…maybe to
include past trauma, loss or whatever personal transformation that’s made you
who you are today.
I love it.
I love my DRAG PATH.
As we’ve been drug through this existence, did you dig your
heels in so that others could find you? We’ve all struggled but by leaving a
trail means that you are trying to be found. To stay connected. Hopeful that
friends and family will reach you. The evidence of struggle can sometimes be
seen on my face and other times those scars run deeper. Writing here helps. I
am happy. I am found. My wife and my children complete me. I pray daily prayers
of thankfulness and joy. If I look behind at the Drag Path from long ago, it
can be frightening at times, but it made me who I am today. And for that I am
proud.
….To you Cool Kids… thanks for a good laugh today…. I’m
sorry the trauma of a few unwelcomed boobies and booties has stuck with you all
these years. Hopefully you look back on your time at the Pool with a smile and
next time you’re in town, stop by and see the Old Man.
