Day 103
Today's reflection is another "one for the album", where I gather my thoughts of significant life events before approaching age 40. Some of these may not seem related to my journey, but for me, they all are. If they're important enough for me to spend time talking about, then they're part of the baggage (and luggage!) I bring with me in the walk toward my birthday next year. So here's how this little adventure went down.
First, we needed a forged note. We decided on a doctor's appointment note that we knew we could easily change the date on. It wasn't the type of paper we could reuse too much, but it was enough to do the trick. It would also be used at two different high schools for three different people. Once again, I'll leave out the details of whom and how to protect the not-so innocent!
Once the day off was set up, we still had parents to fool. Since my schedule was very known to my mom and dad, I had to stick to it. That meant leaving the house after 7 in the morning and walking down to the bus stop. A friend who drove would be waiting nearby with his car, so I just had to look for his car and get in before the school bus pulled up. This was way before cell phones, so the plan had to work perfectly in order to succeed.
Thankfully, my friend was waiting in his car (a 1977 Pontiac Bonneville, or "Bonney" as we called her), so I immediately felt a sense of relief and excitement that this was really happening. I tapped on the window to get his attention (he was fast asleep, having apparently spent some of the night there waiting for me), and off we went.
Now anyone who's ever seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off will understand these things are a hell of a lot more complicated than you'd think. You start with exact details of where you need to be in the morning, but you still have the afternoon to worry about too. Everything must be kept on schedule. We knew to the minute what time I would need to be home, and my other friends did too.
Strangely enough, I can't tell you what we did that day! It's not like we did something illegal or morally ambiguous, although both are entirely possible. I just can't remember how we chose to live out this day of freedom. And I think that says a lot about the experience. It didn't matter what we did. It mattered more that we had pulled this off at all. (We probably just drove around, maybe played some pool, grabbed some lunch out somewhere, I don't know.)
We'd cut school, and gotten away with it. It was an accomplishment in and of itself, three Catholic high school boys fooling the systems of our respective schools, and getting away with a day off on our own, while our classmates suffered through what I tell myself was the worst school day ever.
I'm not the type of guy who likes breaking rules. In fact, I've always been the complete opposite, even to the point of scolding others for every traffic rule bent even slightly (just ask Andy how annoying I can be). So I guess I'm telling you this story in a way because some part of me wants to celebrate the occasional adventure I've had in life. I'm a mostly good guy who has occasionally misbehaved in some funny/smallish ways in life, and I think that's okay. I've never tried to be absolutely perfect, and sometimes it's fun to be imperfect anyway. "All things in moderation" is a good mantra to go by, I guess. But so too is "live a little", don't you think?
So be safe. Be good. But when you can, have a little fun too. Because really, life's too f***ing short!
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