Homecoming

The sign above stands outside of Mathews High School even though here it references Gloucester. The Class of 1492 1982's reunion is tonight at the football game.

Below is the part of the school that housed the gym when my father went to school there.  The old gym served as an auditorium when I went there. My son and daughter are there now, and that same space is the library; the auditorium is in the new Harry M. Ward addition. Mr. Ward was my principal, and his son is related to me on my mother's side.

Who here is bored confused already? (CBW put your hand down. Also, please stop yawning.)

Below is what's left of my varsity jacket.  Everything has held up pretty well over the years, but whatever material that is on the sleeves? It's sticky. And gross.

Below is what's left of my mother's very valiant attempts at getting all my patches and varsity pins on the jacket.  I had track pins, basketball pins, perhaps even a tennis pin, but most of them fell off long ago.

One spring I played tennis and ran track simultaneously which was sheer insanity. In track I was a high jumper and long jumper; ran the 110-yard low hurdles; 220- and 440-yard dashes; and sometimes the mile relay.

(Hello, Kids?  The whole metric thing hadn't been invented yet    had everyone confused hadn't really kicked in when I was in high school. We used hieroglyphics yards instead of meters. They do not run an event called the 110-yard low hurdles anymore, so "technically" it isn't possible for anyone to beat my record. As a ridiculously competitive person, it is important for me to be ridiculous make that known.)

Those dots on the M once held pins.

Meaningless Trivia: In 1982, I high jumped 5'6" and ran the 110-yard low hurdles in 15.1 seconds at the state meet. I remember hitting 14.9 seconds in another meet but Who here cares is still awake?

(CBW! Pick your head up off that keyboard this instant!)

Before I start writing pages of hot air mostly meaningless words about my high school track days, I will close with a few observations.

• It's difficult to believe that 30 years have passed since graduating high school.
• It's even more difficult to believe my son and daughter will graduate from this same school in the foreseeable future.
• That so many of my classmates still live in Mathews or have moved back speaks volumes about this sleepy little speck on the map.
• Completely unrelated, there is talk of The Perfect Storm brewing that could bring us some nasty weather in the next several days.

I'm looking forward to the Homecoming parade, the football game, the reunion, and the possibility of a good storm, whether perfect or imperfect.


Thanks for suffering through this reading.

Have a wonderful weekend.