It was June of 2003 at Crosby High School in Waterbury, Connecticut and school was finally over. I couldn’t have been happier that my schooldays were now behind me. It’s not that I didn’t like high school; I just didn’t like the people who were there, the city it was in, or the building itself. Well, so maybe I just didn’t like it.
I did most of my youthful growing up in a small town in Arizona, where streets were clean, people were friendly, and school systems succeeded. I moved with my mother to Waterbury, Connecticut when I was 16, my sophomore year for high school. Once the initial culture shock wore off, I found I didn’t really blend with the people there too much. Sure I had a few friends there, and could get along great with just about anyone, but most of the people I remember from high school I couldn’t very much stand. The school itself lacked a certain organization. There was just something about the smoked up bathrooms, drug deals by the elevators, and ant pits growing tumultuously throughout the hallways that gave a person a real sense that the building is ready to be condemned. You could really tell that 80% of every tax dollar in Waterbury went to public schooling! One thing I did enjoy about high school was J.R.O.T.C. (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps). This is where I felt as though I fit in. Everything conformed and made sense, in addition to the fact that people acted like they wanted to be there and learn. There was also a riffle club at school that I probably would have enjoyed, but there was no way I was going to stay after hours in this place, even if it was for one of my favorite pastimes. Perhaps it would have been more enticing if they had something more powerful than .22 cal long riffles. I already had a pump action pellet gun at home, and more pigeons in the back yard than you could shake a stick at!
Graduation came and went as I had suspected. My father had flown up from Arizona for the occasion. I always enjoyed seeing my father. He was always honest and knew how to point someone in the right direction. He is probably one of the few last good men in the world. Truth be told, sometimes I look back and think I should have stayed in Arizona. Those days have come and gone too though, and who knows if I would have turned out any better or worse. So I moved with my mother and turned out how I did, which I don’t regret! My mother is an expert at raising children. She knew how to give us just about everything we wanted, while depriving us of just enough to keep us from getting spoiled and not appreciative of what we had. I hope that I can raise my children the same way, but it hasn’t been working out so far with the puppy that runs our house now!
So school was over and I knew that once summer ended, I would be on my way to bigger and better things. I had enlisted into the United States Army and was set to leave on September 15th, 2003. Right now, though, was about preparing for the future, as opposed to what I was doing in high school (which I still haven’t figured out). I started running and doing pushups several times a day, okay, maybe just daily. Well, I suppose I could have done it more than just once or twice a week. Nevertheless, I was just happy to be living life freely and not having any responsibly for a few months before basic training. So I enjoyed a nice summer at home because I couldn’t drive anywhere as several months earlier I had been in a car accident and since barred from looking at, let alone driving, a car that didn’t belong to me. So, I sat at home most of the time - which was fine with me, I liked being home. At the time I also had a girlfriend I was close to, so we spent quite a bit of time together before I shipped off, fortunately she had a car so I wasn’t completely landlocked at home. My best friend Atlas also had a car, so I could still go out and do guy things too. Atlas’ real name is Matt. I had to nickname him atlas though because word for word he was a walking street map! I remember his uncle would sponsor a parking lot with the local Lions Club for a small town fair. We would work the lot and on a frequent occasion, people would stop by and ask us for directions. Now, I couldn’t have figured out how to get home from the highway, but Matt would jump in with extravagant directions that would rival MapQuest*, without the detours through China! I remember asking him once if he actually knew where he had just sent the people, and he looked at me with a frank smirk and said “No idea”. To this day I don’t know if he was joking, or if a sad couple is out there somewhere driving in an endless circle, lost, and never to have been heard from again.
Summer past and it was now time to leave my youthfulness behind and become the man I am now. Though excited, I must admit I shed a few tears to be leaving behind friends and family.
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