Lang may yer lum reek!

Lang may yer lum reek! 

Scottish saying meaning "long may your chimney smoke."

Thirty-two years are a huge chunk of anyone’s lifetime.  There are precious few things in life that last decades.  Buildings and relationships are perhaps the most enduring.  For over half his life Scottie, the caretaker of Montecito Union School, has built a generation of relationships and cared for a building older than all of us.  The institution of MUS is intertwined with this wee Scottish fellow and he is a living history of what came before. 

Just as MUS is intertwined with Scottie, he is intertwined into the invisible bonds of Montecito.  This is a place with no degrees of separation, a village interconnected by a vortex of personalities in a community stretching back through family histories. 

Knowing someone for even half a lifetime makes them family.  It is a hard won task to be part of any kinship, it takes a great deal of respect, patience, love and acceptance.  Yet it is the familiarity of this very embrace that we all seek and return back to.  It allows us to be ourselves and provides a safe place to make mistakes, be forgiven and remain enfolded. 

Scottie epitomizes the continuity of Montecito and the enduring affinity.  Change must evolve at a pace which does not threaten the neighborhood, otherwise the layers of locals from the new to the vintage rally to protect what they value.  How we feel about Scottie is how we feel about Montecito, how we treat Scottie is how we teach our children to treat us.

It has been my absolute privilege to have been included in his family at MUS and for my children to have been influenced by such a kind and humble man. Very quietly, for half of his life, everyday this man with a thick Scottish brogue raised and lowered the flag of America, a country he risked his life to defend.  It was my honor to be present with a few friends when he lowered the flag for the very last time. 

As he draped the flag over his shoulder I barely heard his words which fell into the folds of material.  He quietly confessed how much blood he had literally seen spilt on that star spangled banner during his two tours in Vietnam.  For a moment he seemed lost in the past then he rubbed his beard in modesty.  Greg and Scottie folded the flag slowly and as it was placed in his hands he was at a loss for words.  So Greg spoke up and thanked him for his service to our country and to all of his MUS family.

It seemed fitting that while we were here at the end of his career, he would take us back to the beginning.  With a husky laugh he told the story of how 32 years ago the previous caretaker, Mr. Oli, had walked him into Bronte Reynold’s office. Then a young man, Scottie had listened in surprise to hear Mr. Oli tell the principal/superintendent he was retiring and that Scottie was his replacement.  Many things in the world have changed since that day, technology, politics, people and so much more.  However, the caring that shines out from Scottie’s eyes has remained indefatigable, his gruff all encompassing love for his MUS family will prevail.

As he contemplated the flag that had been a constant in his life, my tears fell for him.  Saying goodbye is a sorrowful task, but the real loss is in the slow realization of what will no longer be. 

I will miss the sound of his boots hob nobbing across the black top and the sight of his truck around the village.  I will miss waving to the solitary figure walking his dog on the beach at twilight.  I will miss the unfailing helpful hands of a friend.  I will miss my family.

“Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else.”

Ivern Ball.