Hi all. Sorry that posts on here have been so infrequent. As it turns out, when you don’t sit at a desk in front of a computer for 10-14 hours a day, it becomes much easier to break away from the internet and harder to motivate yourself to sit down and write about what’s going on. Also, the fact that we haven’t started our diving adventures yet doesn’t help matters. As much as I like to convince myself that people are interested in what we are doing on a daily basis, I can’t imagine that the world is longing for daily posts on the joys of suburban life, or how we’re listening to the John Tesh radio show, or whether Jerry Springer is better than Maury Povich. I’m going to try to post more frequently, but hopefully about significant events, and not just filler. But today I have some significant stuff to blog on, so let’s get to it!
One of the things I was genuinely excited about when I created this website was the prospect of reconnecting with old friends with whom I had lost touch. Life gets busy, and we fall out of touch with people, and no one wants for it to happen but it does. And I thought that this big lifestyle change (and making a dorky website) was a good reason to try to get back in contact with some of these friends.
One of my best friends back in high school was Greg Bonczkowski (known to all as Bonz). We were friends all through childhood, but became especially good friends in high school. He was a basketball player, and one of the best pure shooters I’ve ever known (which is a back-handed compliment when you think about just how athletic the people I’ve known have been). He played basketball in college for Hartwick, and had a nice career there, and we stayed in touch through college. I went to Greg’s wedding, to a really nice girl named Sandy, and at the wedding I danced up a storm. But our lives were moving in different directions, he building a family and me facing the rigors of single life in New York.
I was really thrilled to hear from Greg after I launched the site, and I was even more excited to find out that he is living in upstate New York, not too far from Binghamton, where Andrea and I are currently staying as we get ready to put her house on the market. Greg is a teacher, and is the basketball coach for a high school varsity girls basketball team, the Unatego Spartans! I was lucky enough to get to go see him coach this past Tuesday, in the first round of the girls Sectionals tournament. His team had a great season but lost the league championship game, and so they were looking to really do well in sectionals. They ended up winning the game in a blow-out. I sat with Sandy and the kids, and with Greg’s parents, who came in from Saratoga for the game. It was a lot of fun!
Here is a picture of Greg and I, as well as a picture of Greg and his family:
Going to the game on Tuesday was a great experience. I genuinely enjoyed it, for a few reasons. First and most obviously, it’s always nice to see a friend who is happy in his life, with a great family and doing something that he loves. But beyond the happiness for Bonz, it was so nice to see the little slice of America known as the suburban high school, and some of the elements of high shcool life that go with it. The student cheering section at sporting events. The signs hung by students to root on their school. The local mom selling snacks (and pickles) at the consession stand in the lobby. The sense of community.
One of the consequences for me of living in New York City was a feeling of being disconnected. In a city of millions it’s hard to have a sense of community, especially when you work a job that doesn’t allow for extensive outside activities. People in New York are rushed and hurried, and there is little conversation or friendliness among strangers. It was so refreshing to get to peek inside of this little community, where everyone has the shared identity of the school district, where everyone knows each other. It reminded me of my home town and my high school, and it reminded me of that feeling of being a part of something larger than yourself. It was like the movie Field of Dreams with James Earl Jones talking about how getting back to the game will heal people: “And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.” For me it was like that, except with basketball instead of baseball, and a girl’s team in central New York instead of players from the past who live in a magical corn-field, and my friend Bonz instead of Kevin Costner. Otherwise, though, it was just like Field of Dreams.
Greg’s team plays their next game in the Sectionals tonight. I’m back in New York this weekend so I can’t be there, but if his team wins tonight you can bet I’ll be at the next game, back in those magic waters! GOOD LUCK SPARTANS!
But beyond the basketball and the sense of community, it was great to see my friend again, and great to know that he’s doing well. I’m looking forward to getting together with him again while we’re still up in Binghamton, but now I’m even more excited to see some of my other friends that I’ve lost touch with along the way.