Captain's Corner

So I’ve been lax with this thing lately, but I was out of town and I’ve been up to my eyeballs with this Prodigal Son thing for this weekend.

But, at any rate, I thought I’d throw something up about my 10 year high school reunion this past weekend…

What can I say?? This was an interesting experience. I wasn’t sure initially why I wanted to go, but afterwards I think I might know. We’ll get into that later. First, the experience.

The reunion is at what was a school for troubled teens when I was in high school. For some crazy reason it’s a “country club” now. I used quotes because it is apparently what passes for a country club in white trash/redneck circles… But that’s okay, it was a semi-decent location (I mean, I’ve hung out in Tijuana, so nothing is THAT bad stateside).

Then we have the people. About a third of our 330-something class showed up. Most of them were easily recognizable. In fact, a good number of them seemed to be wearing the exact same type of clothing and were sporting the exact same haircuts they had then(with some receding hair lines of course). It was like some kind of bizarre time warp. I mean, the jocks acted like jocks still, the white trash and/or “overly friendly” girls in high school dressed the same and seemed the act the same. The hicks were still drinking beer out of a cooler in the parking lot (when they came inside they brought their own beer cozies… now that’s class). The popular girls were still the only ones who cared about high school… In fact the only people that seemed to be different were us theater geeks. Most of us had grown up into (well, most of them were lawyers) responsible adults, able to think for ourselves, and trying to do something useful and fulfilling with our lives.

I got some surprising comments. Stuff like, “Wow, you grew a beard.” and “She’s from Lee’s Summit? Hey, you married up.” or “You moved where?” and “Really? Chicago? What’s that like?”. The only thing I can surmise from these comments are that I was apparently not as well preserved as everyone else. Apparently I was supposed to still be peach-fuzz sporting, badly dressed, fun-yet-not-too-popular 16 year old I was when I graduated. In addition the memo I missed must have also spelled out that I was to go to state school, come back home and not do anything…

So what did I learn? That I’m really glad I left. Sure I had good friends, and it was nice catching up with them last weekend… but I knew on graduation day that there was more to life than high school, and I struck out on my own at 16 to find it. What’s IT? Come to find out, it’s the journey. There is no final destination on this earth… if you think you found it, it just means you quit growing and learning. If you’re not on the journey, you’re sitting still, becoming antiquated and dilapidated. You don’t have to move geographically to stay on the journey, but some times it helps.

So, to the graduating class of Truman High School of 1996, I’d like to dedicate a song to you guys (yeah, it’s so high school to dedicate a song… that’s the humor). It’s Elton John’s Rocket man. In case you forgot them, here’s the lyrics to the chorus:

And i think it’s gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I’m not the man they think i am at home
Oh no no no i’m a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone

See ya in 10 more, hope life treats you well, and you enjoy every minute of it. I know I will.

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