A Good Age to be

 Mr. Wolf was our gym teacher.  He was a retired Marine instructor who served during the Korean war. So he could be intimidating, particularly when we were in junior high. I recall him teaching us how to stand at attention. Thumbs along the seams of your shorts, heels together, feet pointed out at the right angles, eyes fixed straight ahead - do not move your eyes when he walked by...  Quite scary for a 13 year old.

But I learned to like him - he was my gym teacher all the way through high school, he was tough but fair and from time to time would share words of wisdom.  Some of this I even remembered (imagine that!), and even shared with some of the players I coached.

So one day at the beginning of the period he asked us what we thought was a good age to be. We gave some numbers and he began to give us his take on the subject. My memory is a bit fuzzy after 50 years or so, but here is what I recollect:

Everyone at your age wants to turn 16 and drive. And that is great at first getting your freedom and being able to drive around.  But after a few months that is going to get old.  And 18 - you graduate from high school so that is a milestone.  You get your first taste of being an adult.  21 you can drink, but like driving you will get used to that, but you are still searching, still trying to figure things out.

And you will do this during your 20's, you're working, trying to get a career going.  You are probably in a relationship and getting that stabilized.  But around the time that you are in your 30's and into your 40's you begin to figure things out. You know where you've been, you know where you are going and you begin to develop your own philosophy of life.  You should be deep in your career and your relationships have stabilized.

When you get into your 50's and 60's you are still mentally sharp, but now your body begins to let you down. You don't heal as fast and that health you had as a young person is starting to fade.  Your family will be important to you, and you will have strong relationships.  Then as you age past your 70's, you get to a certain point as you age, you will change mentally and that will also fade.

So what is a good age? The sweet spot is in your 30's and 40's - you have things figured out, you have a philosophy on life and you still have your health.  The reason I tell you this now is that you are young teenagers, you are anxious and are searching.  I wanted to let you know that things will make sense as you get older. As you age, remember this little talk and see if it isn't true. 

Steak and Eggs Breakfast

 Donnie Hair was a few of years ahead of me in school.  He was a hard hitting linebacker his senior year and rumor had it that Miami University of Oxford was interested in him.  But Donnie was not interested in college at all, he was too much into having a good (wild?) time and scholastics were not part of that life style.

So the summer of my senior year, we had gone to a softball game in Verona that evening to watch some of the girls we knew play ball. We happened to see Donnie there and said hi to him.  After the game we were all going to a road party outside of West Sonora. As I recall a couple of my friends were with me at the time, Tim Thornsberry and Jim Heltsley.  So we invited Donnie to come along since we had not seen him for awhile.

So a road party was when you went to a rural destination where there was little or no traffic on a road. And there was a parking spot where folks could pull off and park their cars.  Frequently there was a bonfire and we would sit around, listen to music (On an 8 track stereo system which was the thing at that time) and have a few beers.

This particular location was at the end of a long farmers lane by a creek outside of West Sonora.  There was a little concrete bridge there and there was plenty of room to park.  The farmer was old, lived well off the road, and his view was obstructed by all of the tree's. He may not have known that we were there or maybe he just didn't care, but we would frequently have parties there and no one ever complained.

Well things got off to a rough start when the softball game was over. As everyone was leaving, Donnie backed out of his parking spot and hit a garage on the other side of the road.  He may have been guilty of doing a little pre-gaming.  He stopped and looked at the damage.  "Hmm, well it isn't too bad." Hopped back in his car and drove away. He had broken like 3-4 boards on the side of this stand alone wood garage.  

After we all got to the road party someone started a fire and we all opened a few cool ones.  By this time it was getting dark.  We were over talking to a few of the girls when someone comes up to us and says, hey your friend is burning money in the fire.  We hustle back and sure enough Donnie, who had just gotten paid, and was tossing 20's one bill at a time into the fire!  

We were not aware of it at the time, but we found out later that Donnie had taken PCP, also known as Angels Dust. Donnie was already half crazy and as we would find out this would take him to the edge. 

So we got Donnie settled down and got him to stop burning his money and put his wallet back in his pocket.  We got back to the business at hand which involved beer and young ladies.  It did not take very long and we heard a big splash.  "What was that??", someone responded, "Hey your friend is swimming in the creek!"  

Sure enough, there is Donnie splashing around in the creek.  It took like 5 minutes of encouragement to finally get him back up on the bank. We get him over by the fire to dry off - and see that he is bleeding. When he first dove into the creek, he had hit his face on a rock.  He had a couple of cuts but the worst was that he had split his upper lip and was bleeding profusely.

About a year or so earlier a rock band named KISS had burst on the scene and was all the rage. The lead singer, Gene Simmons, was known for his stage antics - blowing fire, blood dripping from his mouth, and his long tongue.  Of course a KISS song comes on and Donnie is rocking a PCP induced Gene Simmons - standing over the fire, dripping blood from his face, and sticking out his tongue while playing air guitar.  It is an image that I will always remember.

The reaction of the girls was predictable - "Oooooh!",  "Gross",  "Somebody stop him."  Since we had invited Donnie, we felt responsible for him and got him to settle down so we could look at his lip by the fire light. It was in rough shape - he definitely needed stitches.

I recalled that there was a new doctor in Lewisburg, a Doctor Kim who was South Korean. So we get the bright idea to drive to town and get on a payphone (this was before cell phones) and get Doctor Kim to meet us at his office.  I convince him to meet us and he is surrounded by 3 half lit teenagers and a crazy Donnie Hair.  The doctor must have called the police (probably a wise a decision on his part), as they arrived about 10 minutes after he got there.  

Doctor Kim washed his hands of us so to speak by saying that Donnie needed to go to a hospital. After a quick interview by the police who wanted to know details on what happened, etc. he gave us leave to go and we were soon on our way to Good Samaritan hospital in Dayton.  

So we get Donnie checked into the emergency room and very shortly an orderly comes out to the waiting room, "You guys need to get back here and settle Donnie down, he is trying to fight the doctor and me. If you can't get him to settle down, we are going to have the cops come and get him." So we go back to the treatment area and smooth things over as best we can.  We placate Donnie enough so that the doctor and orderly can treat him and give him stitches. 

Finally it is time to leave the hospital.  Donnie seems to have come down from whatever high that he was on.  As we are driving back to Lewisburg, Donnie says hey I'm hungry lets stop at Perkins in Brookville (sadly Perkins is no longer there) and I will buy you guys steak and eggs for breakfast - just like the Marines.  Luckily Donnie had not burnt all of his money and as the sun was coming up we enjoyed the promised breakfast of steak and eggs. It was a suitable ending for a memorable night.

Postlude:  Remember that Donnie had backed into the garage?  Well someone called that in and Donnie was busted for it the next day. He had a sad incident several years later.  He did get married and he and his wife were having an argument as he was driving down the road.  He exclaimed that "I will kill us both!" and drove the car off the road.  The car flipped over and paralyzed his wife.  He just had minor injuries. That was that last that I ever heard of him.  Me and my friends were talking about this night the other day.  No one knows what ever happened to Donnie.  Either dead, in jail, or living in a homeless encampment in Los Angeles was the specuclation.