Wednesday, March 19, 2014

I Got the News Today.........

The impact of death is measured by its distance from your doorstep. As we age, gracefully or otherwise, death is on the march, hopefully using as circuitous a path as possible; but come it will. How we rationalize its approach, how we prepare ourselves for it is as varied as there are individuals. Some avoid the subject, hoping that the ostrich approach will somehow save us, or at least lengthen the time before we must embrace it. Others try to fill their lives with activity and bustle to distract themselves from death's inevitability.

Having lost a wife fifteen years ago, I have long realized that aside from assiduously avoiding activities that held high probability of personal injury, like skydiving or motorcycle riding (thank you again, Ned Soleau), there is not much you can do but put one foot in front of the other. I have done nothing in the dodgeball game of life to avoid getting hit by death either. But in that game, death hits closer and closer and the ranks thin out little by little. Maybe that is why some of us have chosen to isolate ourselves from the class.

Why dwell on death? I got a call today from Doug Senchak. I last spoke to Doug almost a year before the 45th Reunion as part of my quest to find all of us. I was looking for Doug, but I was also looking for Peter Isaza, and I had heard from Andy Savulich that Doug was helping to look after Peter, who had had more than his share of troubles in his adult life.

When I finally successfully contacted Doug, he was in the middle of a move and it wasn't the greatest moment what with phone changes and the indignities of moving. We spoke at length nonetheless and yet once again, I regretted not having spent more time with Doug than I had when we were in school. We shared many sensibilities.

So I was surprised when I got a call from him sort of out of the blue. Yes, the move was complete, and yes he was completely retired; and yes, Peter Isaza passed away last Saturday. Doug knew that I would want to know. Peter and I had spent a fair amount of time together during my Wayne Valley days. We shared a lot of classes. We did stuff together outside of school. I remember the first time I went to his house. He had a tennis court. I never knew anyone with a tennis court before. To Peter, it was a matter of fact, like running water and inside plumbing. To me it was extravagance. That not withstanding, (and yes, I did get over it) I enjoyed Peter's off beat sense of humor - something that Peter and Paul Wagner and Chris VanDenburgh and I all appreciated and we just cracked each other up. It's probably a good thing that we didn't always have the opportunity to spend time together. We would have gotten in a lot more trouble if that had been so. We never realized that there was an edge to that humor that spoke of madness in the future.

On graduation, we all went our separate ways. News of each other became anecdotal, a word here or there, and then became infrequent and finally nothing until Linda's success with her own graduating class inspired me to do the same with our "little" group of 600 plus. Would more contact have changed things over the years? Probably not, but it is hard to think that it might not have made a positive difference to all of us.

It's one thing to hear that death has visited someone halfway around the world. Maybe a little worse to hear that it visited across the country. It's another when it invades your circle of friends. And it's so much sadder. Goodbye Peter, may you find the peace you were unable to find in this life.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

In from the Cold

Well, we're back from an RV shakedown cruise and I am frustrated at the quality of Internet connections at many campgrounds (boy, am I spoiled or what? only because we're paying for it) but be that as it may, this blog was delayed 2 days until today, the morning after the first night in my own bed and the first day of Daylight Savings Time:

Even though we're sitting in the new Improved smaller and diesel RV, the day ended wet and chilly. Yes I know that's become a relative term nowadays. A perfect time to think about what has transpired the last few days. 

We took this trip as a shakedown cruise for the vehicle and to introduce the new pup to the RV life, it is true. But i also had an ulterior motive. I've been extolling the virtue of meeting with classmates as you travel to different parts of the country. It's been a while since I practiced what I preach.

So we had dinner with Bob Wanek and suddenly we were backstage at WVHS again and joking and reminiscing as though 45 years had not inserted themselves between us and we also affirmed that it would never do so again. And the seafood and key lime pie was great as icing on the cake to mix a few metaphors. 

Then we had lunch with Nancy Sliker Gillingham and caught up with each other again. She loaned me the Packanack school 1957 yearbook with authentic autographs!  We agreed that the small effort to meet is rewarded in far greater proportion in fond memories and class gossip and the cookies Nancy sent us off with. I left Palm Harbor/Dunedin resolved to find the rest of us not yet located. 

Enough. To essentially text this entry is burdensome beyond measure but the events of the past few days have been inspirational. Don't miss the Packanack preview on the class directory FB page. 

BTW so far the AC is on the fritz and the hot water bypass switch was installed backwards. The dealer is standing behind the vehicle by reimbursing us for the repairs which will be performed locally.

Diesel is cool too now that i know it doesn't necessarily mean twin stacks blowing blackness into the air. 


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Back to the present. There are piles of snow in store parking lots. There's a reminder of ice and snow on my walkway. Even with the 40 degree temperature differential, everything has been packed up from the RV and clothes have been laundered and all the sundries sundered. Time for a nap.

Just read on FB that Scott Shepard lost his dad in the last few days. Our thoughts are with him.