The Yearbook: Tom

 The year was 1982. We danced to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album and watched “E.T.” on the silver screen. John Belushi died and Prince William was born. We exercised  to Jane Fonda video tapes and never missed watching “Dynasty” on TV. Gas cost 91 cents a gallon and a stamp two dimes. We were spooked by the Tylenol scare and held our breath as the recession began.

It was a year of promise and pain, of sweetness and sorrow.

But it was OUR year. 

We were the Class of 1982, and we were ready to take on the world.   

Tom (Yearbook post)

Gina,

To a real nice girl I got to know in chem and calc class. Never forget all the bad luck you had with test tubes during unknowns. Good luck with all you do in life and with that special someone.

AFA, Tom 

.......................... 

3/9/12

 I hated unknowns in chemistry. The teacher would give us a substance and we’d have to run tests to determine what it was. It was a real pain in the ass. The worse thing about chem, though, was the goggles we had to wear. Talk about feeling like a complete dork. The goggles always left marks on my face, which seemed to last for hours afterward. And they messed up my makeup, which when you’re seventeen and vain is a really big deal.

Tom, on the other hand, loved chemistry. Sometimes, when the teacher wasn’t looking, he’d swap test tubes with me, figure out my unknown, and give it back to me.  He always had my back in chem.

 He went to college to be a pharmacist and works in my hometown. Mom sees him when she picks up her cholesterol medicine at the drug store, and she said he always asks about me. He’s not married, but Mom says she sees him walking his golden retriever in the park by the elementary school where she walks with her best friend, Judy. 

Sometime when I’m home visiting Mom, I’ll have to pop into the drug store and see Tom. He’s one person from my past that I’d like to reconnect with.  

Other posts in this blog series

Julie

J.R.

Lauren

Brad

Karen

NOTE:  Each Tuesday and Friday meet another member of the Class of 1982.