I fell in love at 16 with a girl from another school. It ended in heartbreak when she told her parents about us and then went off to Vermillion to college. I drove a '66 cherry red Mustang my senior year and discovered the late Richard Brautigan. I smoked hash, did speed and mescalin and I went to the gay bar underaged every Saturday night until "Tank" the bouncer found out and banned us. It was a dark, seedy basement bar called "The Cave" and I always swore that if there was ever a fire, you'd never die from the blaze, you'd die from being trampled by queens in their high heels.
Some of the best times for me were in the 70s with great friends and concerts and parties. On my 30th reunion, I "outed" myself and no one batted an eye.
Isn't the passage of time amazing? Below, me at 16 and 52.
