Age 50

50. 5-0. I never thought I'd be this old. Hell I never thought I'd live past 21. Then that number came and went. And time passed. Days moved by like your eyes blinking. People coming in and out. Some stayed. I was lucky in that many in my life did stay. Wherever my friends were, they are my friends. Not past tense. Current. Now. My life intertwined in theirs. Of that I am the luckiest of them all.

Old Boys. Now-a-days Old Boys refer to anyone who attended Kemper. Since Kemper is gone, Old Boys are alumni.

After graduating from Kemper you would always get a birthday post card. I remember many of them signed by Col. John E. Gould. I can't begin to tell you about him. Some may consider me Kemper, I consider HIM Kemper. My father actually attended Kemper the same time he did. Col. Gould was also old time Calvary, back when the Army had horses. He was a helluva man. A gentleman with a devilish streak that he rarely showed to anyone, unless you were lucky. Like getting a smile from Mrs. Roberts.

I always waited and expected and looked forward to that post card and knew his writing as well as I did my own mother's. I was also lucky enough to have one of my pictures of the color-guard used for the post card. But by that time Col. Gould was gone. It would have been something to have his words on the back. I think I may have one or two cards somewhere packed away. I just never thought that I wouldn't receive a birthday card as I always thought Kemper would continue. I never thought there wouldn't be a time when there wasn't a Kemper Military School & College. Just like I never thought I would ever have gone through what I have. I never thought I'd live to see 50.

Now my goal is to see 68. Dad died when he was 68 so I want to at least hit that age. Do I have a bucket list? Um... No. I have already done more than most people have and while I might make a pail list (small bucket) I am not looking to jump out of a perfectly good air plane. I par-sailed once-I know from those Airborne types its not the same. But since I am not able to go through the 3 weeks of Airborne school and then get my wings, anything else just isn't. If I have a list, its very specific.

I have been to Europe. Hawaii. I have traveled all over the US. Are there places I would like to go? Hell yes. Siberia, Yugoslavia, Ireland, Scotland, etc. But I have a great imagination. I love to read. I have seen movies. If I don't make it, I can go there in my mind.

I have been to Disney World. I have stood in Time Square on New Year's Eve and drank with people I would never see again and got a couple of kisses at midnight from a pretty Russian girl. I think I have a picture of that. I have much more, my life, in memories, in my mind.

I have owned businesses; retired twice. Made and lost money. Married and divorced. Finally got my degree 30 years later. Worked for a newspaper. Been in love? Maybe. I have loved deeply some women. I have been and still maybe in love with some women. They may or may not know. Maybe the problem was they never loved me deep enough, or loved me back the way I loved them or... who knows. And then I have what I consider the two great loves of my life; Julie and Kemper.

I attended a military school that only a finite number of men and women ever attended. And of those men and women, our numbers are getting smaller as each day dawns and the sun sets. I have friendships with men and women going on 37 years. Of men and women who I love, respect and hold in high honor. THAT I am not surprised of. Those bonds can't be broken by anything but death. And even then its not forever; we will meet again in that formation in the sky.

So we circle back to 50. Mid life crisis? Nope; already had a crisis at 38 and still have it at times. Done anything crazy? Please. I have done more crazy than you will ever know. I feel extremely lucky that there were no cell phone cameras or videos in those days. Some of my friends who have tried to re-invent themselves should really be thankful. While I may not have pictures, I have a better memory; and like the old joke-I know where the skeletons are buried as I helped bury them.

Understand? Some will. A lot won't. And that's ok. Just call it the ramblings of an old man. And for those who know and understand; I am still dam proud of being an Old Boy!