A group of eight fraternity brothers from 1966-68 met in Chicago this week for some nonsensical camaraderie and frivolity. I had not seen five of them since the year of '66 so it was with some anxiety but also great enthusiasm that I made the trip. Those other guys are getting old. Not me, of course. Does it seem to you that I do a lot of these fun type things? It seems that way to me but it's my idea of what retirement should be.
I broke down the week into three distinct sections. On the first day it was all silliness; storytelling and such. During the turbulent Sixties our college required all students to attend a monthly religious talk by a noted speaker. One of the fellas thought he remembered that the Rev. Martin Luther King spoke to us but he had a fuzzy memory about it. He went on and on about did he or didn't he lead a spiritual discussion to our student body. Then, out of the blue, he blurted out, "I did see Chuck Berry at Danceland". I had tears running down my cheeks from laughing so hard. It'd be like me saying, "I think Jesus spoke to us and I can't really remember but, hey, I did see Chuckles the Clown". Those were the silly type stories. They are priceless. Mostly the tales were about drinking to excess, girls that were easy and those who weren't and dumb things we did that should have killed us fifteen times over. On the second day, and I wasn't crazy about this one, the conservation revolved around our classmates who have met their Maker. Egad! There are a lot more than I care to think about. My only thought on this is, lucky me! On Day 3 the subject matter became more serious; jobs, kids, life problems, etc. One of the guys has been married four times. You read it correctly---four times. I was always intimidated by him in college. He was a physics and math major. I was into PE. You understand the difference, I'm sure. Another fella has had three wives. The last two came to the US from the Ukraine after he made a trip over there and plucked them from poverty. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me but it's worked out for him so who am I to offer my opinion on the subject. Someone tell me, please, why men of smaller stature are so hilariously funny. Donny Mac is one of those men. Maybe it's because they can 'pimp' guys without fear of retribution. Mac can do it----and he does with exceptional expertise-----much to my great pleasure. Then again, those who do get 'pimped' usually deserve it.
On day four, our last, we all reverted back to Day 1; savoring the moments of memory making and appreciating what had occurred over the last ninety-six hours.
I wasn't much of a college student. Actually, I didn't care much for college. I only went to play sports. This is a good example of my academic successes. One quarter I earned two D's and an F and my GPA went up. My fraternity bro's took me out and plied me with a thousand beers as a congratulatory gift. I do have one major claim to fame as a fraternity jock. In our chapter the bylaws stated that a person could hold office only once for a school year. As a junior I was elected social chairman of the fraternity. When I became a senior the fraternity, by unanimous vote, changed those bylaws and I was selected to be social chairman for my last year. Can you say, 'Animal House'? I don't know how it happened but I did receive a degree and the rest is history. I have a theory about me as a student. First, it didn't much matter to me about the grades. I had to show them to my parents but they had to love me regardless. After I got married I took a number of classes at various colleges and received all A's in every class I took. The way I see it is parents are one thing but anyone with pride doesn't want his wife to think they're a shiftless, irresponsible, raving lunatic and moron, too. Chalk up one for marriage.
Oh yeah, my fraternity brothers and I attended a school called Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. That was a wonderful time in my life and I've been lucky enough to maintain some very good friends from Coe over a long period of time. My fervent hope is we don't have to wait another forty-four years to get together. I don't think I could handle the fun and stand the excitement of being 109 years old hanging out with these yahoo classmates. But I'm willing to give it a shot it.
No comments:
Post a Comment