Back to School: Locker Nightmares

 Today, a friend of mine posted a photo of her son standing at his locker entering in his locker combination. Instantly, the photos jolted me back to my locker challenges while in high school.

We were assigned lockers our freshman year and given the combination. I CONSTANTLY had issues trying to find my locker. It was on the second floor. The teacher’s rooms and lockers were on the perimeter of the hallway which made a square. There were stairwells and an elevator in the center of the square.

Whenever I ascended the stairs, I could never remember if I had to go to the right or to the left to get to my locker. Inevitably, I would choose the wrong direction. I would often have to make nearly an entire lap around the square before I arrived at my locker. Although exercise is important, this was not a welcomed activity when I was trying to hurry between classes.

Once I arrived at my locker, there was the constant panic of remembering my locker combination. I frequently forgot the combination. Even though I might enter the combination 5 times a day, it was always a struggle to remember the numbers. On Friday, I would be fairly proficient at the combination. But by the time Monday came, I would have forgotten the combination over the weekend. I would struggle for five to ten minutes trying to remember the numbers. Eventually, I could usually get the locker open.

More panic came when we had one week off for Christmas. I would arrive back at my locker after a week off from school, and I would stare in bewilderment at my locker. What was the combination!?

And things were even worse after being away for a few months for summer vacation. I would look at my locker on the first day of school as if it was a foreign object. I would nearly cry trying to remember the combination.

When I could not remember the locker combination, I would push aside my pride and head to the office. I would sheepishly ask the secretary if she could look up my locker combination. It was not bad my freshman and sophomore years, but the shame I felt my junior and senior years was off the charts. I had had my locker for three and four years, respectively. And I could not remember the combination!!!

During my senior year, when I could not recall the locker combination, I could remember the approximate hand movements I needed to make to turn the combination lock on my locker. If I closed my eyes and just let my hand turn the lock from memory, numbers which were close to the combination were entered, and I often could pry the locker open upon entering the final number.

When graduating from high school, most people were happy for many reason, but for me, I was perhaps the only person excited that I would never have to use a locker again!