Senior Ditch Day 1979

  Last night Pearl and I met with some of my old highschool friends. It was great to see them. But man we’re old. All the guys are gray or bald(ing). The girls still look good though, I suspect there’s a lot of hair dying / bleaching  going on there. Just kidding they all still look great. Hours were spent reminiscing about the times we had doing plays, choir( I was not in choir I can’t carry a tune in a bucket), and just being young at the same time in same school and of course my life’s most embarrassing moment was brought up. I didn’t actually hear the story be told but when the opposite table all laughed and turned to look at me I knew what was going on. The story gets told at every gathering. I thought I would share my version of what happened on senior ditch day 1979. I don’t beleive I’ve done that before. Sit back relax and let me tell you a tale.

  In the spring of 1979 I was a junior at Highland High School. At the school every year there was a right of passage where the seniors would all ditch school on the same day. While it was supposed to be only seniors most of the school would seize the opportunity to miss and go somewhere to find a party. My friends and I were no exception. Several of my friends all piled into my friend Bills car.(I wrote about Bill here. Actually, it was his moms Ford LTD if she only knew how Bill drove it. Bill actually had it airborne once but that is a different story)  I had obtained some Yukon Jack whiskey from a source that I still haven’t named to my parents to this day. We drove around for a while and ended up at Rotella Park we were laughing,  joking, having a good time and we started to drink the whisky.

  That’s where things start getting a little fuzzy for me. While it didn’t take much pressure from my friends they started to tell me to drink more. I was all to happy to oblige. I drank and drank. One friend at one point said I like him like this . Drink more! So I did. To the point where I had actually drank most of the fifth of whisky. As you could imagine I was a little less than sober. We decided to go to the Adams County Fairgrounds we all started for Bill’s car which was down a steep hill from where we were. I started down the hill, my walk turned into a stumbling run and then a collapse at the bottom of the hill. My friends all laughed and I thought I was cool. I was totally bombed by now. I stagger up and get into the back seat of the car.

From this point on I have to rely on the stories that my friends have told me over the years. You see I only have flashes of memory from here on. I have passed out, mostly. We are driving to the fairgrounds and apparently I needed to relieve myself so Bill pulls over to the side of the road and I attempt to do my business. I was having difficulty with my objective and I turn to the car and say ” I can’t find It” and pass out again. falling flat on my face and cutting my nose. At the sight of blood my friends leapt into action and dragged me back into the car with my pants still unzipped. They propped me up and started driving again at some point I fell over on my friend Tammy and she screamed ” He’s Dead!!” I wasn’t … but I was trying. At another point I started to projectile vomit all over the car. My friends decided maybe they should take me home. A good decision. Lets just say my parents were most displeased with what had transpired that day.

   I spent about six hours passed out on the kitchen floor face down so I wouldn’t choke on my vomit. I had a memory flash at some point in this time period I vomited and my mother lifted my head up to clean under my face. I finally woke up at about 8:00 pm  about nine hours after the drinking began. I got up and showered and went to bed. My mother came down into my room and asked me if I had a drinking problem. ” No” I told her. My father has NEVER said a word to me about that day. My brother told me I turned blue. I guess alcohol poisoning does that to you.

  I would like to say that I learned my lesson, but apparently I was a slow learner. I spent the next few years looking for a way to lose touch with reality. I drank  a lot and tried several recreational drugs. The only reasons I am where I am today is because I found the love of a good woman and she introduced me to God. Together they saved me from myself.

P.S I don’t drink anymore and I don’t blame my friends for my mistakes. They were mine and mine alone. And I still love all of those people . I will probably hear about this incident at the next gathering it is after all part of our time together.