High School Reunion

I hadn't seen Danny Mullen for 40 years. We were friends in high school. He sat in front of me in home room, and ran track together. We both had December birthdays, in fact, Dan is just one day older than I am. I would always tease him for being such an old guy.

I had lost track of Dan over the years and then a few years ago, discovered that he was living in Georgia. Since then, I always give him a call on his birthday to see if he has any ancient wisdom, to give to me, a mere youngster. When I mentioned that I would be coming to Evansville in March, he told me he would drive up to meet me.

I wasn't sure if we would recognize each other, but I knew he would be driving a flashy car, because he was always interested in sporty cars. He had a beauty of a Mustang after high school, and later bought a broken XKE Jaguar, which I assume he must have got going, although I don't really have any recollection of ever riding in it. At any rate, I was not at all surprised when a red Corvette pulled into my mother's driveway.

We visited, told stories, and pulled up old memories for a couple of hours, in my mother's kitchen yesterday, and met for breakfast at a restaurant this morning, before he headed back to the highway for the 9 hour drive back to Georgia. It was a real treat to meet up with Dan again.

Even though I spent 20 or so years in Evansville, when I come down here, I really don't see any of my old friends, they all seem to live elsewhere. The high school reunions I have attended have always been a bit of a disappointment for me. None of my close friends ever attended, so it was great to connect with Dan again.

I found it interesting how we maintain those youthful interests, throughout our lives. Dan is still interested in cars (he even owns one of those aerodynamic drag racers), and here I am, still interested in art and music (I just bought myself a cheap mandolin, that I will just keep at my mom's, so I will always have something to play when I come down here).

As I watched the sleek red sports car pull out of the restaurant's parking lot, I was touched and sure of appreciative of Dan for doing all that driving so we could meet up again. Thanks, Dan, that was fun.

To read older blogs or to see my paintings, go to: www.davidmarchant.ca