On Monday, I visited someone in the hospital; only, instead of it being the Newberg Hospital, it was about 45 minutes away. It just so happens that this hospital is in my old neck of the woods, right where I went to high school. So when I finished the visit, I drove up Sunnyside Road and saw the ol’ stomping grounds and a whole new world, all at the same time. It’s so familiar, and all so changed and different. I stared at a parking lot in front of Blockbuster’s, the place where Bob’s house used to be, and I remembered the Super Bowl Party there after the 1984 season. I don’t remember much about the game, except that the 49’ers won. I remember how much we laughed playing “Dr. J vs. Larry Bird” on Bob’s Apple IIe computer, trying to shatter the backboard on slam dunks and make the little guy come out and sweep up the glass!
So I’m staring at these places, some houses exactly the same, some things completely torn down and rebuilt, and then I have this long drive home, and I start getting all philosophical. I had a great experience in high school. Seriously. If everyone had half as good a time with people half the quality of my friends, the world would be a much better place. I thought about having miraculous powers to gather my high school friends to my house this Sunday for this year’s Super Bowl. And I wondered what things about each of us would be just the same, recognizable and familiar, just like some of the familiar places on Sunnyside. And I wondered what things would be brand new, completely different, all new and amazing and fun to discover in each of us.
So I dug up all the e-mail addresses I could find and I plastered my old friends with an off the wall e-mail. What things about you are the same, what things would we all recognize from long ago back at Clackamas High School? And what things have changed because of your experiences since then, ways you’ve grown and adapted and become new?
It’s been good tonight to try and answer those questions for myself. I’m grateful for who those people shaped me to be, and grateful for how I’ve changed since then. Maybe you’d enjoy taking some time to answer the questions for yourself.