50th High School Reunion

My brother texted me a grade school friend of mine I hadn't seen in 25 years asking for my contract information. He was going to the Valparaiso High School Reunion. Did bro want to send him contact info? No, I replied. Maybe. Let me think.

Courtesy wise I should give him my phone number. Attending the reunion?  I will not attend.

For memories? I remember high school as being an experience I couldn't wait to get out of, only to find it was high school all the way down out in society. And 50 years of adulterated street drugs have definitely taken their toll. I looked at elementary scchool pictures (which is a big part of the reunion) ansd couldn't name half of them. And the ones I remembered were dead.

I know this event will remind me of how stupid and shallow I was. A callow youth, I was. How I was autistic and didn't know it, in the Honors classes with the smart alphas and popular kids. I was a beta in their world. I felt like a delta. I was ok at sports but did not get a varsity jacket. I was on the varisty teams but dropped sports to work. (The arrangement being my parents would pay half of college costs). I worked a year after graduation. I felt I needed to be held back a year, because I felt behind my cohort. (Too funny, later we found out Kurmans were thought to maybe the smartest in town). 

Thank god for pot. speed, and acid. This was the highlight of my high school experience. I dropped acid my junior year Steptember 1974, and I honestly don't think I've come down from it. 

The drug and alcohol abuse didnt do a lick to my autism one way or the other. They talk about a spectrum, but to me it is more like tribes. Geeks, nerds, dorks, dweebs, weirdos. And awkwards. I always thought I was a weirdo, but it turns out I'm an awkward.

My awkward abilities always manifest at the most inopportune time. I look like a clumsy made clownish via overcorrection  YES, EMBARASSING. But occasionally a serendipitous  awkwardness produces fucking magic, so I got no problem being an awkward.

But it did make junior high and high school unpleasant for me. Still another reason not to go.

I do applaud the Valparaiso Community School System and the teachers I had. Some of the best in the state. As my dad once said, if it wasn't for the university, we'd be just another Hoosier shithole.