I forgot my phone ( conveniently) for this Sunday’s all 1970’s class reunion for Rex Putnam High School. This was the final day of three days of celebrating my sister Pam’s and Kathy Stephens-Leech’s 50 year class reunion.
I have had almost zero contact with high school peers ( class of ’73) since 1980, when I last saw Dan Dietz ( deceased 1996?). I saw Jeff Tobin on the Oaks Bottom Trail (2010- just before his suicide– no, I did not cause it), Randy Olson (last saw him 2006, deceased 2013) and Sean Tucker (last seen in 2011 and another HS buddy, but now just someone I used to know).
I won’t list all of my dead or disabled friends from the class, a miracle that I even made it this far. I recognized classmate Doug Naef, who sat across from us, but I recognized no one else. It was mutual non-recognition from others to me.
I can only imagine what my 50 year reunion will be like, and what value it might have, since I now have no social connections to the class. Though I was #14 out of 318 students in GPA, I was #300 out of the same population in popularity. My # 10 rating in alcoholism and drug abuse with my buddies really put an exlamation point on the HS experience.
Looking back.
I SHOULD HAVE SKIPPED HIGH SCHOOL,
and went straight to the University. I could have avoided so much anxiety and suffering, the temptation to become a druggie through peer pressure by my “friends” and not inflicted the same upon others, for sure. Scott Ferguson, upon his return from the military, even called me ” the Devil”, apparently because of his own addictions, and some sort of unconscious projection of self hate against me
My present alumni value, if any, has risen only through the tragic attrition of others.
Looking into these people’s faces, I see how far we have all come in life, and, gulp, how far we may have left to go.
Fun listening to Kathy and Pam’s stories ( they were housemates a couple of times and great friends in the 1970’s).
A fun and sobering experience..
Hmm, I may not attend #50.
