Bumped into a high school friend for the first time in 30 years.

[Chainfire]

20. That may be part of the answer.

I married very young and moved away for 30 years. I was in the service, so I associated with a lot of people from other circumstances. I lived in some cities and had some interesting jobs. I sometimes wonder if some of the people I grew up with have ever been outside of our county; if they have, it was in body only, not in spirit.

Then, on the other hand, by the time I was a junior in high school, I was already beginning to paddle against the stream. While a lot of my contemporaries were gung-ho patriot enthusiasts of the war in Viet Nam I was smelling a rat. I was beginning to identify with Rockers rather than the Johnny Cash crowd.

Our school was from Kindergarten through the 12th grade, all in the same building. My senior class was about 30 people. You see the same people every day for 13 years. You all have the same teachers and preachers and community leaders. It tends to make for a homogeneous community, and for the most part it worked that way. My question is why my wife (two years younger, same community) and I, and a few widely scattered others, turned out so differently?

It the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter, but as you get older, and don't have to concentrate all of your efforts on making a living and raising children, these kinds of questions have time for consideration. I am really happy that I have a community of other misfits to come spout to and seek answers. It gets lonely out here in the (red) sticks