Some people say you’re an old-timer if you can remember when it cost more to run a car than it did to park it.

I recently — and somewhat reluctantly — attended my 40th high school reunion in Rock Hill, S.C. I say reluctantly because somewhere in the back of my mind, back home was a place I didn’t necessarily want to remember.

I figure the moon must be in the seventh house as Jupiter aligns with Mars, because opportunities to explore Southern culture, my roots and local history keep rising up. Could there be a connection between my visit back home to the Carolinas (South, to be exact; we only believe in one), followed by a memorylane trip to Chokoloskee and a visit to Bartstown, Ky., via Louisville, the home of Walter Haldeman, one of our town’s founding fathers?

Labor Day has a double celebratory meaning. “The day before back to school day” — a silent but glorious celebration for moms who would have called it Independence Day had that day already not been taken. Oh, the sweet tradition of shipping those little darlings off to earn their place in this world.