Returning to one's youth(ful indiscretions )

Long ago, I attended Gould Academy. Long ago I got in trouble for wearing a t-shirt during Alumni Weekend that the administration felt was offensive (it was). The school was in transition and...well...so was I.

I have made a really interesting discovery recently (in large part, because of Facebook). I have a very small handful of friends from elementary/high school. I have about two friends I stay in touch with from college. I have a very small handful of friends I keep in touch with from law school. I have discovered, however, that I am/have been in touch with a large percentage of my old friends from prep-school....which I, frankly, find surprising.

I guess it should not be surprising. I lived off campus through all four years of college and worked full time, year around. That is, I did not spend much time hanging out with classmates. In law school, I lived in the grad dorm the first year and off campus with my girlfriend/fiance (also a law student)...and after the first (tedious) semester, worked full time, year around (law should go to an internship/apprenticeship model...I learned *way* more clerking for 2.5 years than I did in the classroom...I still feel that the class time was largely wasted).

Prep-school was different. With the exception of a handful of local students, we all lived on campus. We ate all our meals together. We took our classes together. We played our sports together. We spent our free-time together. Back then, I smoked...and the smokers all clustered a half an old ski-shack that was dragged behind Bingham Hall (the aptly named "Butt Hut"). Even so, it seems pretty strange that 25ish years later, I feel closer to and fonder of this cluster of friends than I do any other.

So I went to the first day or so of this year's Alumni Weekend (and did not, as I toyed with, wear a Dead Kennedy's, "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" t-shirt). I wish I could have spent the weekend. Eli went with us and we toured the campus and showed him where I lived and ate and such things (and where Suz and I were married...by coincedence, at the Bethel Inn). We hooked up with Amy (Bruce) Broadhurst and Thayer Shedd (and ended up staying at a house they had rented as it was late, we were having fun and we could not get back in time for the debates otherwise ...the second photo was taken from the porch at the house). We ran into some other old friends and talked about what we had done back then and were doing now. We marveled at the new buildings (the first picture is of the new(ish) dining hall and there is a remarkable new science building.

It was a silly thing to do, just before/during a very chaotic weekend (with a wee party and local book fair). It was also great fun.