Spelling and writing

While talking to one of my friends last week, I shared that I had begun writing again and am enjoying being one of the editors for a magazine we publish here in our community every other month.  She was not surprised that I had gotten involved in writing again, knowing that I had always integrated that into my nursing roles.  It was then she asked how or when did I first notice my desire to write. This is my story I shared with her.

I suppose my interest in writing began in elementary school during spelling B"s.  I would be among the final five or ten in the classroom as we advanced to the final spelling B contest for the school.  I think I won one of the more challenging B's, but I just could not keep up with a little kid in my class named Arvil Bolick.

Arvil was a shy, small-sized boy with red hair and freckles to match.  He was quiet and unassuming, but boy could he spell.  When challenged, he seemed to grow in both stature and confidence!  I admired him, but knowing how well he could spell, I entered those spelling B's somewhat anxious because I knew Arvil would always get better as the words became more difficult.

I shared this story with my daughter who began asking if I remembered Arvil in high school.  The high school was located in a small town and all of the former elementary students had to be bussed there.  I do not remember him beyond the eighth grade.  My daughter did some quick research on her computer and landed on his obituary.  From that, we learned the following basic information about him:

In 1957 he was living in Maryland

He married and had two sons

He lost one son aged 42

Arvil died at the age of fifty-three

This is not much information, but more than when I began writing about him.  I wish I could have filled in the spaces as I am certain he had the usual phases as we all did during our ages of 20's, 30's and 40's.  Most of us who were born in 1940 married or established a vocation by age eighteen.  It was during those years that we put down roots in a hometown while establishing our children in public schools. Our families were created in our 20's, and we guided our children through their own trying teenage years. 

I had graduated from high school in 1958, so I began my own research into the yearbook to try to find a record of his high school years, but with no luck.  I did not find the name of his wife; and her name was not one of the girls that I was familiar with.  I found no record of her in my yearbook either.  Since he was living in Maryland in 1957, perhaps he dropped out of school and joined the military. Perhaps he married someone there.  It was sad to read that he lost one son, aged forty-two and that he followed him in death at an early age of fifty-three. 

I wish I could have known him as an adult.  I would have asked if he had pursued his love of words and spelling in his given vocation. I wonder, like me, if he enjoyed writing about his experiences and his family.  Somehow, I would like to believe that he did.

This small amount of afternoon research led me to a strange friendship-kinship to a former classmate who unknowingly challenged me to broaden my vocabulary, thus creating a desire to share the written word.  As a child I was probably a little jealous of Arvil and his confidence in correctly combining letters into difficult words.  He was a master with syllables and the sounds. 

 We should all reflect on those encounters in the past which influenced who we are today.  I wonder if there was something I did or said in my childhood or as a teen that made an impact on someone else.  If so, I can only hope that it was something good!  I wish he knew that his confidence inspired my love of writing which continues to this day, and I wish I could have said "thank you."  Instead, I will honor his influence by sharing my brief memory of him through written words, our common childhood talent.