Markers

We had EOG test training today. Every year, at this time of year, teachers across NC gather for EOG test training. And every year the training is similar, though not always the same because information always changes.

Today, as I sat in training, it hit me that EOG test training is a marker in my life—a fixed point that I can look back upon to create a specific container of time. For instance, in between last year’s EOG trainings and today, I have been called away from both the church and school where I served for five years and instead called to Greenwood. A container of one year. So much can happen in that space…

These markers,
These yearly events,
Mark the passing of time.
They are simple reminders of what has stayed the same and
Complex announcements of all that has changed.
Every year they come
Like the seasons,
Steady,
Predictable,
Flooding the mind with sorrow and joy,
Mourning and celebration,
Extremes of life’s continuum,
And everything in between.

Markers, I think, are both a blessing and a curse. Sometimes we don’t want to remember. But sometimes, we need not to forget.

What are the markers in your life? What events always make you think back to the same event in a previous time? I’d love to hear.