Gene Taylor

I never understood the people who always wanted to go back to their high school reunions.  I liked high school to a certain degree, but never felt like I needed to go back and relive all the ‘good ol’ days’.  I was happy to graduate and take my high school parking pass off immediately.  I kept up with a few friends from high school as the years went on, but a ten year reunion?  Why would I want to join a bunch of the popular kids who now considered themselves popular adults?  Based on what I have heard, most of the ‘cool’ kids still think fairly highly of themselves.  I mostly avoided social media because of my train wreck of a home life immediately following high school.  I almost completely started over once I headed to college. 

The only high school boy I could never fully get over was Gene Taylor.  My friends all laughed over his name, but I thought it was sweet.  Sweet like he could be old-fashioned like my grandfather.  He opened doors, was respectful – I always wanted to say chivalrous, but didn’t want to give my friends anything else to poke fun of.  Gene Taylor.  I had tried to keep in touch with him for a while after high school, but when he went off to the military, things seemed to dwindle.  He was the only reason I would ever go back to high school.  Much less a reunion.  That all changed when my phone rang.