28 Years Ago, Today

Mayfield High School

28 years ago, today, I happily departed high school on a bus with the rest of the 10^th and 11^th grade Honors English class, my new best friend, Laura, sitting beside me. A tender soul, having grown up with mobility issues, she was a veteran of the area and knew quite a few of the other students. Myself new to the school district, having moved to the Cleveland area from the suburbs of Chicago for my dad’s new job, Laura was not just my best friend at the time. She was my only friend. I latched onto her as if my life depended on it -- which really it did, if you consider that I was fifteen and my life revolved around social contact.

The field trip, as I recall, was to see the enactment of several Edgar Allen Poe writings... Perhaps someday a bus full of honors students will travel to see the enactment of something I have written and I will become part of one of their love stories the way that Edgar Allen Poe became part of my love story. But I digress. Back to the point.

In the theater where the students watched three or so skits, Laura and I sat in front of a handful of rather noisy, 11th grade boys who seemed to think it was great fun to tease the two 10th grade girls in front of them. I did not know any of the boys, of course, but Laura did. Pleasantly, she interacted a little with them and got them to quiet down for the rest of the show. Then it was off to the buses and back to school. (Can we please go back in time? That was really a good day.)

Laura and I sat together on the bus and waited for it to finish loading, but it was full before all the students were on the bus. A tall, scrawny boy wearing glasses, blue corduroy jeans and a gigantic, overstuffed backpack was one of the last students to board. I watched him try to sit down in a seat, but get kicked out by the other kids. Then again, he sat and was ousted. He was one of the boys who had been teasing us in the theater and I crossed my fingers that he would find a seat before he got to us.

No sooner did hope cross my heart than Laura said, "Ohhh... I feel bad for him. He's really nice." Then she added, "Let's let him sit by us."

Argh! How could I say no to my friend's charity? We told him to come sit down and it turns out that he actually was very nice. (Nice enough to become my first boyfriend.) Donald X. Vaccarino kept us entertained with homemade cryptograms for the entire ride back to school.

Donald X. Vaccarino

Many years later, I learned that geeky guy who once entertained me on the school bus had grown up to become an award-winning and world-famous game designer. Hmph. Go figure that my brush with greatness would go by without so much as a fanfare.

But it all began 28 years ago, today.