Unreality

Attending community college in your hometown is sometimes full of weird moments. I recently have been seeing a guy in the hallways that I swore was my HS principal, Mr. Dallek. I've wondered if it was him... I was pretty sure, he has distinctive features, and the good girl I was always sort of feared the man, leaving a lasting impression.

Tonight my question was definitively answered. The man himself came walking towards me, wearing a red GF Indians pullover. The odds of it NOT being Dallek shrank to practically nil.

I marvelled at the fact that he looked older and much more harmless than the stern authoritarian of a school. He just looked like someone's dad, or a team coach.

I wondered what he's been doing all this time, and as I watched him walk away, I though about all the ways I had changed since our paths last crossed, 10 years ago.

I am a wife, a star employee, and a first time homebuyer. I make more money than I ever considered back then, in a field I never even entertained. I've made some of my goals and missed some. I've travelled, had my heart broken, and come out all the stronger for it.

And yet... I found it a little amusing to consider that I was standing in Woodbridge, in the hallway with my principal, backpack slung across one shoulder, feeling beaten down compliments of the geometry class I'd just left, where I struggled and cursed my way through.

I guess it's just a classic example of the more things change, the more they stay the same...