Cynthia Wolfe:  

Well, it all happened sometime between "The Dead" and "The Jolenes": Ya know, the boyfriend thing, the education thing, the work thing, the marriage thing and the children thing. And, it did go by so fast -- quite at the speed of light. It's just now I can slow down, take a breath, look back and remember some things before they all really become a fuzzy blurr. Life, hmmm. For one thing it was edgy, very edgy, and often too intense. I mean, how much can you squeeze into 61 years? How much more can you cram into your senses? Often it was overload, but to this day I feel cheated because it's all too short -- and all so delicious. There are ALL these things left to do, see and experience and maybe if I'm lucky I have four more decades, and I mean lucky! I've always liked taking things slow and easy, thinking things through as I go, planning. I guess one of the most alarming facets of when I grew up and how, is how FAST I had to think and move. How very fast everything went by. Sometimes it was just plain death defyin' and I mean weird. Two eras ago (or therabouts) I packed all my possessions into one duffel bag and headed for the mountains of Oregon not researching much about the state. I was just a poor starving artist fresh out of university back then, but somewhere in my twenties I suddenly decided I had to get out of the Los Angeles basin. Guess I was trying to put together a concert tour and I just couldn't concentrate. Next thing I knew I was deep into the peace and quiet fresh air of Mt. Hood National Forest. That's where I stayed. Then, suddenly, one day, I picked up my son's duffel bag to carry it to his car as he left for college and he said "No thanks Mom, I can carry that." He hugged me, kissed me goodbye, picked up the bag, got in his car, and drove away. I watched from a hilltop as his car wound down the highway and silently out of sight. It was as simple as that. I shrugged my shoulders to the silence and the wind. I would never again have to cook for a crowd, complain about screeching rock music, or close my eyes as one more vase got obliterated in still another growth spurt. But I didn't know that then. An entire era of my life vanished into the cosmos, and I was left alone to figure a whole lot out, and nothing at all. Does this story sound familiar to any of you? . . . One of the most wonderful experiences of my life was meeting all of you at Las Virgenes Elementary School. It was seventh grade and I had just moved from closed-in, smog-ridden Arcadia to that beautiful place, Calabasas. It was like heaven to me. When I entered the classroom and I first saw your faces, it was as if I had met you all before, you were that friendly and that kind. Karen Tremain sat backwards on top of her desk, blonde hair tumbling forward over her shoulders. She looked up through the hair and smiled. Theresa Packard was one of the first to introduce herself. I remember her friendly smile to this day. Soon I met Pat Shinn, Susan Snyder, John Ureda. There was Pat Aronson, Marty De La Torre Bueno, Vicky Lawrence, Cheryl Eaton and Bonnie Greggs. Jim Straw and Nicky Falkenberg were there too, and then Miriam and her twin brother. I remember Bonnie Christman, ...Expand for more