Old friends and memories

Reading the obituaries this morning I saw the name of an old friends mother. I hadn't seen this friend since 1953. I decided to take a trip to David City hopeing to see him. When I went away to High School he lived just up the road from the family I stayed with. He was a sophomore when I was a freshman. I spent a couple afternoons at his house and we became good friends. He was onery and since I had that same attribute we hit it off pretty good. One of our nemises was Sister Carol. We used to hide from her and otherwise make her life difficult. One day we went up to the attic of the school and hid in a large closet. Sister Carol figured that was where we went and opened the door to the closet. My buddy was standing right in front of her when she hollered his name and said " I know youre in there."!He tried to stifle a laugh but then I couldn't hold mine. I told him when I saw him today that he was my hero. The next year he moved to town and went to a different school, leaving me to fend with Sister Carol by myself. By the end of my sophomore year I had singlehandedly caused her to have a nervous breakdown. The next year she was gone. I think she finished her teaching career at an all girls school in Milwaukee. Of course I had to find a new partner to help me keep the Nuns on their toes. Ray was a perfect choice. We did a lot of entertaining at that school. One day Ray decided to play with a bottle of mercury. Naturally he managed to spill some on the Lab table. we chased it all over the room trying to get it back in the bottle. In typing class Ray would get mad whenever he made a mistake and he would rip the paper out of the typewriter and mutter something in Chech that I didn't understand. Sister Maxentia would scold him , not for making mistakes but for losing his temper. Whenever we had a fun night for a school fundraiser it was pretty much the "Bob andRay show". Somehow we managed to complete High School and get our diplomas. We didn't see each other for many years and ten years ago he died. When I went to the funeral home today I saw his widow and we had a nice visit. He talked to her a lot about our shenanigans while in school. This spring will be 55 years since we graduated. Almost makes me fill old. Ray and another classmate(Dennis) have passed away and the rest of us are trying to get together every year from now on. I hear from a couple of them regularly via E-Mail. I go by the old school whenever we go to Norfolk or Wausa. The windows are boarded up and I imagine the floors are dryrotted by now. Probably wouldn't be safe to go into now. Every time I drive by it brings back memories. Most of them are good. One in particular was the day the boys learned to dance. At school dances the boys stood around and told jokes while the girls sat across the room wishing someone would ask them to dance. When asked why we didn't dance we always claimed we didn't know how. Sister Rosealina called off english class one day and ordered everyone to go to the Gym. Music was put on the record player and Sister Rosealina showed every boy in that school how to dance. She was the only Nun I ever danced with. She was also an excellent dancer. She definately was a take charge person and ended up being my favorite teacher. All in all I enjoyed seeing some old friends, even if it was in a funeral home. Maybe now that I finally posted a blog again I will be able to bring up other stories of my life. Till then keep lookin.

Old Irish