My hero and I went to high school and college together but were not sweethearts either place. Not until that Christmas party...when our gazes met across a crowded room. First date: Deliverance
The rest is history. Two kids, one grandson. One black Lab left....We've got a high school reunion coming up, but kinda fun was receiving in the mail on Friday our college directory listing everybody who'd ever gone there for the last 120 years.
Of course the only years we concentrated on were our own.
"Hey, does it say what happened to that long haired guy who played Moby Grape and, I think packed weed?" my hero asked.
I paged around. "Yeah. He's a minister with a big family."
Wow, to quote our grandbaby.
Three guys I dated are singletons. Of course the directory doesn't specifically mention divorve or widowhood. I know for sure they haven't wasted their lives pining over me LOL. But I hope they're not lonely.
Three girls I kinda knew have died. Scary. Of course I see us all in my mind as beautiful young co-eds. But I wasn't ready to read about folks my own age having crossed the bridge...
During the directory's inception, alums had the option to submit personal info. I took the opportunity to submit a little bio touting my family and books, and I included that picture of me at Walden Pond. But most of our classmates --other than me and that minister-- didn't. I would have liked to see more pix of the old herd. See if they're aging as well as I am LOL.
But poring over the directory, I couldn't help but go back and relive those four years whenever I'd see a familiar yet long-forgotten name. I recall Bill my physics lab partner. I was an art major and he a wrestler and neither of us took the class all that seriously...and almost helped each other fail. I remember Steve taking me to a movie and the best Italian restaurant around. In those dates, you dressed up for dates.
Trish invited me to visit in Connecticut and was a wonderful host. It was a rainy springtime, and two ducks, blown off course, took up residence in her swimming
pool. She named them after my parents.
Anne has a PhD. in physics, and yes, she helped me pass that infamous class.
There are too many tales too boring to anybody else but me. Those were profound years for a suburban LA girl, going on my first-plane ride to an ivy-covered brick college in a small country town with cobbled streets. I remember walking everywhere...my father refused to let me take a car to a state where it snowed. Autumn was just like a cliche--falling leaves, plaid skirt and penny loafers and football games on nights so cold you bundled up like Eskimos. Hopefully with a cute guy at your side.
I've seen snow since...but never Springtime. Not like that, with lilacs of every color from white to pink to lavender to deep dark blue scenting the world and infecting me with Spring Fever so real I can still feel it.
Oh those were the days!
I don't miss them, though. I like the way my life has turned out. Other than that journey my hero and I just found ourselves taking. I could have done without that. But there are purposes to everything, and we'll figure it out someday.
For now...I'll just hobble down Memory Lane for a bit, hear those fallen leaves crunch under my loafers and wait for that first snowflake to land on my navy blue coat.
Just like way back when.
No comments:
Post a Comment