miles to go before i sleep

pasajera:

4thletter:

I think one of the favorite memories from high school is when I told Mr. Mikkelson about how this poem is about an assassin sent to kill the guy who owns the woods. The assassin, though, has been at it for ages, and is tired of his career. But before he can quit (“before i sleep”), he has certain obligations (murders) to take care of.

I think Mikk said something like, “That’s not wrong. It’s stupid, and out of left field, but it’s not technically wrong.”

High praise.

Oh Mikkelson…I think you were one of the few students he thought was bright. I vaguely remember him praising you a couple of times. I know he used to pick on me a lot because I was so awkwardly shy, but I can’t remember anything specific. I’ve somehow managed to erase most of my high school memories, which is weird, considering it hasn’t been that long ago.

I’m the same way with high school. Earlier today (shortly after this post, in fact) I remembered that Mikkelson wrote something really nice in my yearbook (this page, top center, signed “MIKK”) and ended up poking through the senior, junior, and sophomore pages and just kind of marveling at how young everyone, including myself, looked. I matched some faces to names I’d forgotten (though some names in the yearbook are wrong!) and had one of those goofy trips down memory lane you have sometimes.
Most of my vivid high school memories (as opposed to vague memories or ideas of things that happened) are of things/relationships I messed up or being a jerk when I shouldn’t have been. Or no, that’s not right— I over-analyze a lot of things, mainly myself, so I dwell on the negative bits. In reality, a lot of really cool things happened.
I dunno if you still have any yearbooks, but it might be worth flipping through to see what you remember. There were cool people in there I’d entirely forgotten about who I hung out with all the time.