high school blues
Jon and John are coming over today! I’m pretty lucky like that. For the longest time, it was always Jon, John, and Josh. The three J’s. We grew up like that. Since the beginning of time as I’ve known it, we’ve always been friends. We went to each others houses, we played in the creek together, we argued, we all teased each other about liking this one girl that none of us actually liked, we wrestled, we shot our BB guns together… Then we grew up. John is a cop in Madera. Jon is training to be an F-16 pilot in the air force. He lives in Texas now. I’m a teacher in China trying to break into the publishing industry. We might as well be worlds apart but for the fact that our families all live within a few hours of each other. So when we’re home on vacation we still get the chance to catch up.
It was in high school. I was homeschooled. John and Jon had been homeschooled all their lives just like me.
When I was younger, homeschooling wasn’t so bad because I didn’t know any better. When I was in third or fourth grade, homeschooling was a fun thing. On Thursdays our families, sans our dads who were at work, would go to the XL Choir. It was a choir comprised of all homeschoolers. The homeschool parents had organized various activites so that we kids wouldn’t feels so isolated. It was a pretty good sized group. We’d sing…but mostly just goof off and flirt with the girls. That would make the choir director mad and she’d start yelling at us all. We’d all get quiet and pay attention for a good five minutes after that. Wash, rinse, repeat cycle for about two hours. After choir, we homeschoolers went to various places to eat lunch and regrouped at precisely one in the afternoon in front of the roller skating place. This was the highlight of our week. This was the epitome of homeschooling fun.
Of course, high school was a little different. When you’re at an age where you can’t stand to be near your parents or even acknowledge their existence, being their students and spending all day with one or both of them can be pure hell. It was also at this time that I discovered my two best friends in the world weren’t cool enough for me. I wanted to be popular. I wanted to be cool. They didn’t seem like they would help me get there. High school popularity can be a funny thing. I’d have done just about anything for it; even if that meant ditching my brothers from different mothers. I was a real jerk. Somehow, I’ve managed to hang onto them and we’re still friends.
Now, we see each other about once or twice a year and I feel lucky when we hang out. Today is a good day.
