Hello World,

Some of the graduates from the class of 1992, and our very own version of Joe Clark, Mr. Gunn, our loveable but strict principal...Remember that huge pencil he carried with him?

I would rather not write about this topic this morning, but I feel that I ought to do so – simply because it is a part of life although I would like to avoid it…

This week via Facebook I found out a high school classmate passed away. I was shocked and saddened to hear the news. I guess I was shocked because the last time I remember seeing her was in high school, and I remember how easily she smiled and how loudly she laughed. She was not a shy person at all. She was full of life as we all were back then…I think the very first funeral I went to was in high school. A high school classmate had committed suicide. As sorrowful as I was at that time, the fact that this classmate chose to take his own life seemed more acceptable in my mind than someone in my age group dying for a cause outside of his or her control…But as we get older, that seems to be the case more and more…and I hate it…I really do…

 I also found out via Facebook that the the viewing of her body and funeral would be nearly down the street from me, and I knew I had to go although I really didn’t want to…but I knew I had to pay homage to the girl that she was when I knew her and the woman that she became…I decided to attend the viewing…I was surprised to see how calm and even jovial her husband was at the viewing until he explained why he was determined to not be melancholy although it would be justified.  He told us  in the chapel that he was glad to see her pain and suffering end although he was sad for their two daughters that no longer have a mother…

As I said, I had not seen my high school classmate in years, and the body that I saw on Friday did not look like the vivacious person that I remembered. And I don’t want to remember her that way. That’s why I was relieved when a video of pictures from her life were shown. In all of the pictures, her easy smile was the centerpiece. And then her husband and friends shared story after story of her apparent  mischievousness. I always knew there was more to her than what I saw in the halls of Benjamin E. Banneker High School. I was reunited with a few of my high school classmates and childhood friends at the viewing, and it brought back memories of the blissfully ignorant days of childhood when the world was only as big as your block and the most evil you experienced was getting into a fight on the bus…

Yesterday, as I was driving to a more happy event, a bridal shower, I saw some kids in my neighborhood riding bikes and jumping up and down on the asphalt like they were on invisible pogo sticks. One little girl was so oblivious to the outside world that she was riding her bike with her eyes closed. I said a silent prayer for her as she whizzed by my car, and I contemplated stopping to tell her it was dangerous to ride her bike on the street out in the open with her eyes closed…But the image of her did capture my world circa the ’80s and the ’90s…I thank God and my parents that I had a really wonderful childhood…My childhood brings to mind this verse…

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,  “ I have no pleasure in them.” Ecclesiastes 12:1

I don’t know why God permits death or why evil befalls us time to time, and I would prefer not to think about all of that any further this morning…This morning I want to reflect on 1992 and the years before “difficult days”  came to be…Excuse me while I open my time capsule of memories…(I wish I would have actually buried one somewhere…)

Two other trends from the '90s - fingerwaves and school boy glasses...thank God I got better with time, but you gotta love that thick and lustrous black hair...

• Movies that came out in 1992 – Basic Instinct (I went out on a double date to see that movie), Wayne’s World, Sister Act, The Bodyguard (The soundtrack to this movie can stand alone), Lethal Weapon 3…
• Songs that came out in 1992 – Baby, Baby, Baby by TLC, Jump by Kris Kross, Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus (1992 was a really good year for Billy Ray, as his daughter Miley was born in 1992 as well. Can we say meal ticket? I know that was wrong…sorry…), Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, Baby Got Back by Six Mix-A-Lot (This song made me feel pretty good that I had something to show for my love of red beans and rice..
• Remember these slang words from the ’90s -” Boo Ya!, ” “Talk To The Hand,” “Save the drama for your mama!,” “Peace Out,” “Not!”

Anyway, I could go on, but I won’t…Even though the class of 1992 is sure to continue dwindling as the years pass by, I promise to always remember the good times…R.I.P.  S.P.J…

Any thoughts?

This is probably my favorite song from 1992 and seems apropos right now…