The Shrinking Pool
My wife told me that one of my high school class mates died last week. His showing was on Thursday. I do not remember him well, but I was not part of any of the major clicks at school. I pretty much stuck to myself most of the time. I do remember that this person ran with the popular party crowd (at least that is how I perceived it) and was generally liked by everyone. I know that I graduated with about 230 kids all those years ago and am not sure how many of them are still roaming this great big Earth.
The class bully fell off of an oil rig shortly after graduation and was left a quadriplegic. He showed up to the 10 year reunion in a wheel chair and all of his sycophantic friends fawned over his like he was Christ reborn. In a particularly un-Christian fashion, I thought it was karma. I thought I heard that he had left this Earth also. However, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a cardboard cut out of him with all of this friends gazing on lovingly at the next reunion.
I have managed to avoid attending all of the reunions after the 10th. It is not that I have not achieved what I expected or that I am ashamed of where my life went. I just do not feel the slightest connection to anyone from that time. I have not seen anyone from my class since 2003. The last one was working as a cashier in the Foodtown in Waterville. I hadn’t seen her in there before and I haven’t seen her since. What is unfortunate is that my wife had a bad 10th reunion and said she would never attend another for her class either. My mother tells me that the folks you went to school with change and become real people the older they get. I can’t imagine the party crowd I went to school with being any less stoned or drunk than they were more than 25 years ago. I know that 10 years did not faze them.
So as I say goodbye to a little more of my past and reflect on what awaits me, I have few regrets. The ones I care about keep me surrounded by love and attention. I have a group of friends and family that show me that the laboratory experience of High School was nothing more than a bad social experiment. I am glad it is behind me and will take the today’s rodent derby any day.
Icool
Cobb
The class bully fell off of an oil rig shortly after graduation and was left a quadriplegic. He showed up to the 10 year reunion in a wheel chair and all of his sycophantic friends fawned over his like he was Christ reborn. In a particularly un-Christian fashion, I thought it was karma. I thought I heard that he had left this Earth also. However, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a cardboard cut out of him with all of this friends gazing on lovingly at the next reunion.
I have managed to avoid attending all of the reunions after the 10th. It is not that I have not achieved what I expected or that I am ashamed of where my life went. I just do not feel the slightest connection to anyone from that time. I have not seen anyone from my class since 2003. The last one was working as a cashier in the Foodtown in Waterville. I hadn’t seen her in there before and I haven’t seen her since. What is unfortunate is that my wife had a bad 10th reunion and said she would never attend another for her class either. My mother tells me that the folks you went to school with change and become real people the older they get. I can’t imagine the party crowd I went to school with being any less stoned or drunk than they were more than 25 years ago. I know that 10 years did not faze them.
So as I say goodbye to a little more of my past and reflect on what awaits me, I have few regrets. The ones I care about keep me surrounded by love and attention. I have a group of friends and family that show me that the laboratory experience of High School was nothing more than a bad social experiment. I am glad it is behind me and will take the today’s rodent derby any day.
Icool
Cobb
posted by Cobb at
6:38 AM
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