October 22- Guest Blogger Andrew

  

Today my son, Andrew, is writing as a guest
blogger. His visits to the island are frequent and so appreciated.                        

 Island Dying  

When I die, I want to be buried on the island. I want some part of me to be permanently attached to this place. Something more substantial, more material, more earthy, than a number on a census report, or a name in the high school yearbook.  

So much of my time now I spend doing things in the air. Sharing documents in the cloud. Sending messages that destroy themselves in ten seconds. Taking pictures that will never be printed.  

My memories of growing up on the island are as crisp and fresh as a newspaper just off the press. But the places that support those memories are falling down and disappearing. Burton Elementary, located over a bridge with mudflats so thick and brown they looked like pudding to my second grade eyes, was turned into a skateboard park. Vashon Elementary, along the main road, was torn down over a decade ago. When it was vacant but still standing, my friends and I broke into the gym and played basketball under barely glowing emergency lights. There's a soccer field there now, where children play who have no idea on what they stand. The high school, which had gotten a shiny new copper roof during the time I was there, has been completely replaced. 

Will my memories become as elusive and insubstantial as a Tweet, or Snapchat? Will the walls that support them stay standing? What will stop them from running downhill like a rainwater through the pines, out past the mudflats and beyond?

                                          Andrew is a teacher, administrator, and often a stay at home Dad. His writing is fresh and insightful.

I am writing for 31 days this October about Island Life. Click here to see the other days of writing.