Locker Sentimentality

We all started with the cubby and a coat hook. Remember? Maybe not; that was way back in kindergarten. But by the sixth grade – at least - each of us felt really grown up when we got our own locker. Initially, we shared space with others. The half locker was a standard in middle school. High school marked a time when most of us then were assigned full lockers; from the floor to just above your adolescent height, it was all yours.

Between classes, the school locker was a constant destination; an expectation, even. “Meet me at my locker after third period.” You might look forward to the location of your locker due to its proximity to a member of the opposite sex that you found uncontrollably appealing. Or maybe you shared the row of lockers with a friend whose path you always looked forward to crossing.

For some, the locker was a bastion of embarrassment. Shoved inside a locker? No, fortunately that never happened to me. But it has happened. Just watch any John Hughes movie from the 80’s. Film exaggerates every day life, but reflects it nonetheless. I just viewed Napoleon Dynamite (again) and was reminded that I have seen plenty of boys shoved against the bank of lockers by a larger male passerby; this, a friendly reminder of the level of testosterone that existed in high school. Those were the days.

On my first day of 8th grade, I walked down a floor to my former 7th grade stomping grounds just to say hi. I wanted some perspective. I got it – just walking down a floor to confront last year’s locker made me feel superior somehow. I was in 8th grade now; one floor up. The air was better. Even the lockers seemed bigger.

When in high school, I really loved my locker. We were in a hall that was one side lockers, one side windows. Our row of lockers in both my junior and senior years afforded bright sunlight to us as we exited our classes, exchanging books and notes. This solidifies my theory that everything is better when cast in sunlight - even school.

The classes are gone now. They reside in the past with my locker. I have a desk at present – having evolved past the cubicle farm. The variation on workspace that I have experienced over the years is somewhat similar to my school locker. I have shared workspace, and also worked in an office of my own. As such, my workspace – the actual size of it – has been both roomy and confined. Gradually, just as we did with our lockers, I pretty much insisted on personalizing my space at work. Now don’t forget – it’s not as if I have had the same job for years on end. Just as changing lockers every year dictated what approach you might choose in decorating it, my resume reflects the fact that I basically have an average three year ceiling on work positions.

Some desk décor moves forward to the next work area – some does not. But there is always a way to make life more personal – whether it be an assigned locker in school or an assigned work area in the “real” world. I don’t have a mirror mounted like I did before, nor do I have any pictures of Rob Lowe or the members of Duran Duran (John Taylor was my favorite – hands off, ladies!). I do believe, though, that I have the grown up version of locker space right on my desk.

Check it out:



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I go to my happy place when I look at these postcards.


You like it, just admit it.


From my office in Minneapolis all the way to a wall in Teton Valley, Idaho


Busch Stadium. Gone but not forgotten.


Inspiring words for us all.


Just a little reminder that if a monkey sat at my desk long enough, he would eventually be able to accomplish most of what is assigned to me.


Nothin' feels better than a moose full of coffee.