![]() Lots of other people there had been honors students and had also gotten a harsh smack in the face by life. Very few of the former popular crowd came - guess they just wanted to show off at the formal dinner. But another part was a free BBQ down at the local park. One part was a formal sit down dinner that cost something like $80. Our school did something interesting for the reunion. I don't know why, but I seriously thought people would think bad of me for getting a divorce. I was actually afraid to go to the reunion because things were TOTALLY different. I was one of the valedictorians and got voted most likely to become president, I dated the same guy most of the way through high school and married him in college.ġ0 years down the way, I was divorced and on disability for mental illness. Probably the biggest talk of the night, and honestly, I think everyone was really impressed. It sounded like he had some demons to work through, but he literally went from being somebody we all kinda expected to spend his life in jail, to arguably being the best looking guy at the reunion, making more money than almost anyone there, and just having a huge turnaround. Eventually he started his own pool cleaning business and has since expanded it enough that he makes fantastic money and doesn’t even work 40 hours a week, and it’s still growing. It was really tough work which got him in shape, and helped him kick drugs and gave him a purpose. He told me that after high school he got a job cleaning pools, which “saved his life” according to him. Literally none of us could picture him so he had to show us old photos on his phone. Tall, long hair, muscular, pretty good looking. So I show up to my 10 year reunion, And there is this guy there that nobody recognizes. Lots of drugs, really overweight, constantly getting suspended, getting in fights, trouble with the law, etc. There was a kid in my high school who was, for lack of a better term, a huge f**k up. Not a teacher but there was a really remarkable transformation in mine. But I expect I'll respect them just as highly (probably a bit more, honestly). I don't ever expect to come back at the 20 and see them running some giant company or anything. I was really glad to hear they were doing so well, and see how much they'd changed. From just someone who was there probably because they had to be to someone who'd found their being. They'd found work they enjoyed and that paid well so they could support that family with a good life.Īnd then? They went up to people at that reunion who they recalled setting an example or giving them a template to build on and thanked them for it. They were raising a family and trying to be a good parent and spouse. No, instead they got married, found responsibility, and now had several kids. They didn't go on to be a CEO or something. They just kind of coasted through, had been a bully when they were younger, definitely didn't take class seriously (not that I ever saw) etc. One of the people who showed up was, well, to put it bluntly, I had never thought much of them when graduation happened. "How have you been? What have you been doing? You still smoking?" It took me almost an hour to hear him speak my name, as he had spoken each other name of every one of us in that line I imagine. I couldn't wait to see him although I doubted he'd remember little ole me after 20 years! So on the day I roll up to the school, there was a line the whole length of the football field to say hey to Coach Garvin. He listened and when he spoke, he spoke to each one of us. It was a Catholic college prep school with very strict rules that had any other teacher caught us, we would have been expelled.Ĭoach Garvin had such patience in his ways, and he worked every angle to get us to understand math. I'd have thought y'all were smarter than this." "I don't think that's very smart to smoke in here. I remember his catching me and some friends smoking in the boiler room and he looked at each of us intently. ![]() I had left town the day after graduation and never looked back.Ī math teacher who taught calculus and coached football was so amazing in our school and our community that the whole town had created a day devoted to him and named it "Garvin Day." He was retiring that year. I attended only my 20th year reunion in 1999, and only because I had to return home to my family because my step-mother was dying. I know that this is a reach-out to teachers but I want to do a shout-out to a teacher.
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