One of the more insidious perversities of FarceBook is the ability to look up people from your past. I knew it could be done but (until now) I hadn't waded into that particular part of the pool. I don't know if it's age creeping up on me or the imminence of several unpleasant anniversaries but I committed the fatal error of looking.
In 1971 I walked away from nearly everything and everyone (except family) that I knew. I had managed to get myself into some deep trouble (assaulting a teacher) that necessitated a clean slate scenario. I left and never (until now) looked back.
The lure of FarceBook was that it was so easy. For over 40 years I managed to not ever bump elbows with anyone from "the old days" but a post on a friends page from a familiar name (although not a familiar face) prompted a closer look. Sure enough it was someone from long ago. And a look at that persons "friends" opened the door to a bunch of my old schoolmates.
Great Googly Moogly - those guys got old!
Yea, I know - so did I - but I don't look nearly as beat-up and wrung-out as the grim faces I peered at.
There were a couple of takeaways from all of that. First, I missed my 40th school reunion (but apparently didn't miss a thing). Second, I outlived most of the stoners, but several of the jocks as well. One thing I wouldn't have bet on was the core group that stuck together for all those years (and apparently still communicate). There was Gary, who (at the time) was definitely heading down the road to ruin. He apparently did his own clean slate and now is a teacher. There was Steve, who wasn't a "bad boy" but rather was more of a perpetual screw-up - he's a minister.
And then there was Dave. Dave was my brother from another mother. When we were in the 7th grade we dreamed about the rock band we were going to be in. We were ham~n~jam until the 9th grade when he went nuts because I went out with a girl he had a crush on (but couldn't bring himself to speak to or even about). I had no idea but once the deed was done I wasn't about to break it off and he never forgave me. Good ol Dave who was going to be Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix combined into some sort of super-hero. Dave looks like 30 miles of bad road, a lot of cheap whiskey, and a bunch of bad street drugs.
On Dave's page were links to "Conservative Chicks I'd Like to Hate-F***" and several other anti-conservative websites. Good old Dave.
Well, that answered
that...
