I’ve been showing a few photos, both digital and black and white film, as I visited some old haunts of decades and a century marker ago.

Dorothy Moody Elementary School no longer guides children through their formative educational years in the newly incorporated suburb of Kansas City. Many recognizable houses still surround the old building. The streets still lead where they once did, even as new construction in the school district. Cars driving to these familiar walls now bring congregational gatherings for worship and fellowship in a community church.

A few specific sites that tamed me those years ago …

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Dorothy Moody (DM) had a large playground for the grades of Kindergarten to Sixth grade. Games of chase among older boys and girls often spanned the entire grass area. ‘Field Days’ were held each year for grade-appropriate competition fun.

On one of these Field Days, second grade, I remember that there was a ditch just along the fenceline at right in the photo. While waiting for our competition turn, several friends and I were jumping over a rake trailer, laying in the ditch, that was used to grade the baseball infield dirt. Teachers wanted us to pay attention.

Mrs Piep called to us to stop what we were doing. I was an angel of an obedient child (eyebrows might raise on those who know me), so I – attempted to stop – in mid jump. I learned about inertia that day and that moment. My body was already moving from the start of my leap. I was committed. I had no ability to stop, or to slow down, or to speed up. I landed knees first on the nail-studded rake trailer, driving 4 nails into my kneecap.

To this day, that was the most severe pain I have had. Timing was everything in another way that day. My grandfather from North Carolina was visiting our family, and came to my rescue in the school nurse office. He walked to the school. He picked me up after receiving instructions on care. He carried me the several residential blocks home for recovery.

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Ah, so many memories of the playground, though it is now updated as a parking lot for the church. Not much architectural work has been done to the unique building and it’s angular layout. I was among Tom Sawyer wannabe kids who made an apparently lasting impact on the outside trim.

The multi-lobed, angular design of the building provides not only a unique ‘footprint’ still viewable on Google Earth, but left the outside angled corners with decorative brickwork. No decorative evidence here, with the flashing visible.

Somewhere around Fourth grade, my friends and I noticed that frisbees, tennis balls, jump ropes and many other items could be retrieved by older students in the evenings after school. They used the decorative brickwork as an easy ladder to climb to the top of the roof. As I discovered on the first time, a perch on the roof afforded wonderful ‘you are here’ vistas of the surrounding buildup of housing and streets. We could still see nearby fields that were not yet converted to lumber and shingles. Relaxing. Yes, we were also able to retrieve lost items for others who suffered mishaps of wind or bad throws, becoming slight heroes.

Summer before Fourth grade, through Summer before Sixth grade, this was a place you could find me, or others that knew of the climb, and the solace up above. The school knew of the brickwork design flaw and the allure it held for a small number of students. We weren’t hurting anything, but there was danger of being hurt.

Some time just before Sixth grade started for us, a discovery was made. Our climbs were done. The school district had paid to have flashings screwed into place at every one of the oblique angles. Our exploration and rest, and even our days of being the heroes for lost objects were forever extinguished.

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Too many random, and definitely younger thoughts pop like corn in a pot as I see this view.

This was the area where the youngest of grades, Kindergarten and First grade, were restricted. We had our own equipment, and boundary defined by a sidewalk. Well, that, and the watchful eyes of all the teachers.

Kindergarten was in the portion of the building in the background of this shot. I remember being the first kid there when it all started with friends I would know only a portion of that year, or see our shared years through junior high and high school.

Recess and naptime. Two staples of young childhood education of the day.

Ouch! I remember the old-fashioned metal slide on a particular hot day. Though shorter for our diminutive age and body size, it was a popular recess haunt. One warm day, though, it was not slippery for some reason. Nobody really got a good slide. My turn came, and all I could do was tumble face-first into the gravel below. My entire nose was bloody, and covered with scraped scabs of my landing for more than a week. I earned the temporary nickname of Rudolph, for the red glow of my schnoz.

One of those apartments in the background at left housed a friend of mine, whose older brother (in high school) offered to sell me ‘dried lettuce,’ when I was in Third grade. Laid out in bundles and bags in the apartment basement, I was still able to determine that ‘lettuce’ was not the real name of the plant. I was not, nor have I ever been interested in that particular crop.

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I saw other potential photos that I COULD shoot that recent day I visited the old school. I don’t have a lens, though, for looking back in time, to catch and properly share the nuances of detail.

I’ll look for other ways to revisit the suburban waypoints, hoping you find interest though similar, or even completely different experiences in contrast.