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Twenty two years ago, I “graduated” from 8th grade at Mother Seton School.  We all dressed like Miami Vice for Graduation.  We were 13.  Several of my class mates went on to the same High School as I did, but there were some who didn’t.  Largely I lost track of those folks.  

Recently, my Mom discovered that a friend of mine from grade school lives in a townhouse on the next block behind her.  We got together yesterday for the first time since we were 16.  It was really great to see Carrington and his brother Jimmy.  

We got together at Matt’s house and had a bunch of good food, some beer and caught up as much as you can in 4 hours when you’ve not seen each other in 20 years.  I’m looking forward to catching up more and perhaps rekindling an old friendship.

As I drove home, Greyson slept in the back seat, and Nick Drake sang softly through the car stereo.  I was remembering a lot of old times.  I came across the memory of falling down the well at Carrington’s house when I was about 10 years old and was struck that I’m damn lucky to be alive.

I fell about 25 feet into the well, and luckily there was water in it.  I remember at the time thinking that I might be able to climb out of the well, it had stone walls, but that wasn’t happening.  Luckilly Carrington’s mom and Grandma were there and with the help of a neighbor (and by neighbor I mean someone who lived a mile away - this was the country) they pulled me out after being in there for about a half hour.  It was November - snow was falling.

Only later in life did I realize how close I was to dying that day.  Sometimes I relive it and think that it really is a miracle that I survived.  The hole I fell thorugh was only about 1 square foot, and it was rocks all the way down.  If I’d hit my head, it would have been over.  

So, there I was driving down the road with my boy in the backseat and wondering, what the hell is Greyson going to do to scare the crap out of me when he’s 10.  I’m hoping he doesn’t fall down any wells, but if he does, I hope he’s got some good friends around to pull him out.