Every so often, reality a big dose of reality shows up and gets your attention.
I attended a large suburban high school in the mid 1970’s, and I’ve written about some of my misadventures before…
Speechification
Homecoming
My graduating class was very large, over 600 students, and it was impossible to know everyone. I was fortunate to be part of a medium-sized circle of friends. We were close-knit and hung out together for most of three years. Then we graduated and grew up; went our separate ways and built our lives. Some did a better job of staying in touch through the years than others.
These days we get together every 5 years at our class reunions to catch up, swap lies, and to reminisce about how innocent and free we once were. Unfortunately there are always a couple of more names on the list of deceased classmates. They have all been people I didn’t know very well during my high school years.
Until now…
Every high school class has that special person, the sweetheart of the class, the homecoming queen who is everyone’s friend. The girl with the radiant personality who is a beautiful person inside and out. We were fortunate that our class sweetheart was in our, as well as everyone else’s, circle of friends.
She was also the first one from our circle to leave us.
A few days ago, after our friend’s memorial service in a small Colorado mountain town, a few of us got together to catch up, swap some lies, and most importantly, share some laughs. Before we all left, we promised each other we would do a better job of keeping in touch.
As I drove home I was reminded of James McMurty’s song “Just Us Kids.”
"Just us kids hangin' out today
Watchin' our long hair turnin' gray
Not so skinny maybe not so free
Not so many as we used to be"
Goodbye Dandy, may you go in peace…
