154. Time of the Season

For some reason the song “Time of the Season” has been stuck in my head. It’s such a great summer song. The bass line, the harmonies, the organ, it’s just feels like you’re sipping a cold beverage on a hot summer night. (Although the lyrics tell a completely different story.)

I had a nice summer day today on vacation. I’m staying at my friends Greg and Megan’s house just north of Chicago. We spent the morning watching the end of the French Open and witnessing a Novak Djokavic win. We then headed into to watch the Cubs play the Diamondbacks. Greg got some fantastic seats. Best seats I’ve ever had at a baseball game. That made it all the more fun. I got really sunburned on the left side of my body, so summer has now officially started. We then headed home and got some Giordono’s Deep Dish pizza. Man was that good.

We spent most of the evening just talking and reminiscing and then discussing the future for things. I miss not being closer to high school friends in order to be able to do that. That’s why I savor those moments I can really dig into the nitty gritty with friends from those days. It doesn’t happen nearly enough and it sucks.

I suppose it’s sort of blessing because I don’t think any of us Conserve graduates are living in our high school days like some people do. None of us stayed in Land O’ Lakes. We all had to scatter and do our own thing. There wasn’t that protective warmth of your friends to help. I suppose that was a good thing.

But sometimes it’s sad to not have that warm embrace around. It’s sad to not talk about what a crazy story Conserve School was. It’s also weird to not be able to see what Conserve shaped us all into.

I think that’s one thing we haven’t quite figured out yet. What were the results of that crazy experiment in the woods? It’s obvious that all of us who went there were affected by it. (Judging by the likes garnered from a few dozen people on my Facebook page today.) I’m sure lots of people still talk about it, but we have to go through all the steps of explaining that we went to boarding school, what it was all about, and what happened to it. Sometimes it’s nice to just have someone around who understands.

That’s why it’s been nice to spend some time with Greg and Megan, arguably two of my closest friends from that time. They probably have the closest experience that I had. Even though we now live in different states, it’s still nice to just have that connection around.

Sometimes I’m sad that I didn’t have the “normal” high school experience, but as I’ve said with most things, normal is boring. A lot of people’s high school experience is figured out pretty quickly once you hit college, a lot of people I went to school with are still figuring out their own experiences.