More High School Secrets

I haven't written here in months and I am feeling guilty. Work and life have taken me away from adding to the blog entries. I will have more free time in the future as I am stepping away from half of my work responsibilities. I am now semi-retired and working part-time.

So how do I really view my high school years? I guess I look back and remember them as being a confusing but structured time in my life. Like most busy students, I tried to balance school and some sort of social and extracurricular life. I spent some Saturday nights at "The Center", dancing the night away and meeting boys outside of my own high school. I skipped some CCD nights to head to the Crest and look at the local guys. I wasn't popular but I managed dates to a few dances. I spent more time in the gym playing sports with my friends and I studied more than I would like to admit. College was on my mind and I knew I needed to get there.

I was a member of "Pro Merito", a National Honor Society type of group. One had to have a B+ average to get in and my grades were better than that. Each year the Pro Merito group traveled to Washington, DC and further south to Richmond, VA and Williamsburg, VA to see the historical sights. We worked on fundraisers to earn money for the trip and it was quite a trip! The chaperones mostly left us alone when we were not on the bus traveling around. We had free time to take in "What Do You Say to a Naked Lady" at Loew's Theater in Richmond and to drink southern comfort sours in our rooms at the John Marshall Hotel. It was the first time I had a little too much to drink and I had a hangover the next day when we went to Williamsburg.

I made some boy friends on the trip, guys that I had known for years as classmates but never got to know further socially. We all got drunk together and slept it off on the bus. That trip did get me an invite to the prom; my friend Al became a little more than a friend and asked me to the prom.

Another Classmate Gone Too Soon

I am sitting here wondering: Why not me? I had a stroke in August. Why did I survive and another friend pass away?

A friend whom I had known all through high school and who had been in nearly all of my classes passed away while on vacation. He had suffered from prostate cancer, had chemo and radiation, then metastasis, more chemo and radiation, surgery, and all of the emotional repercussions. He was finally feeling well enough to get away for some vacation time. He posted photos on Facebook to chronicle his trip, friends, family, and then one day, there were no posts. He had been stopped by a massive heart attack. The shock reverberated throughout my classmates.

Mike was one of those people who was almost an apologetic leader. He never seemed that confident in himself, though he always had an opinion and people listened to him. He had a ready smile and a joke for everyone. Smart and athletic, he was very successful, lived life, and was liked by so many. He was honest, sincere, and a friend to all. His wife was one of the luckiest people alive to have married Mike. She got one of the all-time good guys. Our class will surely miss him.

I stole numerous photos, all funny, from his Facebook page. They will come in handy for the next reunion. We will all be reminiscing, knowing that he was gone too soon.