I recently found out that my high school was going to be shuttering its doors next year, after over 30 years in it's current location Don Bosco will be no more. I don't know what to think about that, so here I am typing about it. So bare with me while I work through this.
I loved high school, especially in the last few years when it seemed that we were kings of the world, or at least the school. Things seemed to align just so in the last few years of our time in purgatory, the right combination of beer, music and hormones. Starting with a legendary trip to Quebec and ending with the equally legendary graduation and prom week celebrations. It had nothing to do with school work and learning for our future, it was about the bonds of friendship in that time. It was a grand time in my life and I loved it. The school played the backdrop to our lives. We had to be there and we had to work to ensure we moved on in life. Some easier than others. My school work suffered mightily in those last two years and it can be directly related to getting my license and having a social life. Oh, and introducing the alphabet into math. I wrote in my final year book that my biggest pet peeve was going through 5 years of math and not finding "x". I barely passed some courses but I didn't care, it was about the gang.
Don Bosco is a Catholic high school, so yes I wore a blazer, sometimes, shirt and tie and dressed the part of a private school flunky. It also meant that religion played a part in every day life at school. Morning prayers, monthly masses, religion classes and deviant priests walking the halls. And I say that as a fact as opposed to personal belief. There were some issues to be sure. Woven into this cornucopia of hormones, rebellion and education was a rag tag group of friends, 16 guys and gals that commandeered a back hallway and lived our lives by our own set of rules and codes. Like any group dynamic we had leaders, followers and stoners. A fierce loyalty had developed between most of us and as time went by an almost legendary mythology grew around us and our exploits.
In the beginning we were never invited to parties, which mattered not because we would show up anyway. Garbage bags full of ice and beer were dragged down to the basement where we would congregate around the water heater or washing machine and immersed ourselves into our own world. We didn't give a shit about what the "cool" kids were doing, we were doing our thing. Topics ranging from wrestling to religion. From the hot new girl in history class to politics and the art of sacrifice. We swore, drank and had a good time. We never caused trouble, we just wanted a place to sip some beer and shoot the shit. Unfortunately, alcohol being what it is means that someone is going to say something to someone at some point. The preps as a group didn't like us and we didn't care much for them, the whole Greaser vs Soc thing from The Outsiders. But wait, there were more, the Ginos, the metal heads, the jocks...as a group, none were liked. But you could like individual members just fine. There were fights occasionally and some choice words were said but I don't imagine it was any different any where else.
Devils music played too loudly, impromptu handball games, skipping class, roaming the halls out of boredom and a desire to foment rebellion. I could write 50 posts on individual events that I still remember and cherish. The Spoons playing at the school, Mr Martin's 50th birthday with a case of Labatt 50, battle of the bands 1.0 and 2.0, my locker....50 may be conservative.
After a while we noticed a shift in attitude from the general school population with regards to us. We started to become liked. Truth be told, individually we were mostly liked but now the "group" was getting some love. People didn't threaten to call the cops on us for showing up at the door uninvited. They allowed us to roam freely through the house. It was kind of funny and then someone actually invited us to a party and that was just weird. It felt like this person, who I happened to know, wanted to build her credibility by inviting us...we never went...hahaha.
High school was about that social life that we led. The drinking, the risk taking, the bonds of friendship that mostly disappeared after we graduated...that was what we lived for. We had our share of turbulence but mostly it worked because we didn't compete with each other. We did us and managed to do us within the loose confines of our bunch of hooligans. Bit by bit there was some erosion which generally followed when group members became more than friends...actually, thinking back that caused a lot of trouble for us and for me. But that's for another day...maybe. Good times...haha
So now the school is closing and it seems there is going to be a reunion of some sort next year. I might just go, again, not so much for the school as for the people. Most I have lost track of but it would still be good to see them again and see the people that I have stayed in contact with. Sharing stories and seeing where life has taken people. Another milestone to mark in this thing called life. And who knows, perhaps friendships can be renewed. Wouldn't that be something.
Hmmmmmmmm
D
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