my careless contagion

Graduation: a beginning and an end. But mostly a beginning because even the word commencement means more than just a ceremony; it means a beginning. The above photo was taken shortly after my high school graduation in 1996 (which looked a lot different from graduation this year, I must say). I'm on the right. The other two are Jeff and Michelle. The photo was taken for a short news story of importance because we had all come from Hot Springs and ended up in Broken Bow. We knew each other from one town and somehow all made our way to a different town in a different state, eventually graduating together. While Michelle is still my friend today (she's moving back to Nebraska soon), Jeff has gone under the radar and I'm not sure how to contact him. His father died a few years ago (right after his dad retired, I heard). His dad coached both my brothers. I recall him on school grounds before they moved with Jeff's younger brother. I instantly recognized him and wondered wh...

I may not look like much of an athlete now, but once upon a time, I was. I was always involved in sports, up until I got pneumonia my junior year during basketball season. I never played another sport after that, as I hadn't recovered from pneumonia. I recall my mother blaming my sickness on me smoking marijuana (which I had never done) instead of actually mothering me in my sickness. If I had gone to a doctor earlier, perhaps the pneumonia wouldn't have progressed to the stage it did. But, as they say, it is what it is.   The photo above was taken during probably my last season of swim team, which ran during the summer. It looks like I'm doing the butterfly stroke, which is the most difficult. I recall being disqualified at least once for not doing it right. I was involved in swim team from the age of 10 until maybe 13, and those are not good years for a boy to be wearing a speedo. Pretty awkward. I stopped going to meets because I had a hard time getting rides. I rec...