RIP John...

I went all through school with John Ketchum. This picture is from 5^th grade. He's sitting on the bottom row, fourth from the left. I always knew him, but we rarely spoke. Just different clicks. I believe he lived on Hillside Avenue, between me and Tina Savage. He was a “jock” in my eyes, but a smart, upbeat, energized kind of guy, friendly, no threat. But we had little common ground. I just couldn't care less about the sports thing. Apparently he went on to Dartmouth, a business stint in Hong Kong, and wound up with a prestigious accounting firm that his dad had built. Not too shabby. I went on to a long internship in life, looking for something that felt right. He and I were on different paths, but he had always been there when we were kids. Kind of like family. After 20 years, I saw him at our 1986 WHS reunion. It gave me comfort to look two tables over and see this guy I had known forever. And he knew me. There was a strange comfort in that. Jesus, I thought. “That's John Ketchum!” Kind of like seeing Mr Robinson, our next door neighbor when I was a kid, and he had been dead for 30 years. John and I never spoke, but I hope that at some point, he, saw me, recognized me as I had him and felt that all was right with the world, taking comfort in that, even after all those years...