'Twas A Year Ago Today....

I know that some of you have better things to do than read about a personal story about my life, but seeing as a year ago today was one of the biggest nights of my life, I figured why not have a blog post about it. And if you don't want to read a post about me that has nothing to do with sports, you can scroll down and read all you want about Hank and Kendra and "stare" at that photo of Kendra for hours on end which I know you are all doing or did anyway. ;-)

But back to the point. It was one year ago today, that I graduated high school! Now aside from the fact that it was my high school graduation, things could not have been more unpredictable or crazy that day. And almost all of it centered around the weather.

The weather leading up to the days leading up to the day of my graduation can be described with 2 words: heat wave. I mean, the heat we had here during the 4 or 5 days leading up to the day I graduated was hot, hot, hot and I'm pretty sure that we set a bunch of record highs through that period. But regardless, I'm talking about hazy sunshine with temperatures in the upper 90s. And for someone like me who prefers the cooler temperatures, it was not a fun time. Top that with the outdoor graduation rehearsals and it was the heat wave from hell and then some. So we get to Tuesday, June 10, 2008 and guess what, it was the hottest day of the bunch.

We had our last graduation rehearsal at around 9 in the morning and the temperature was already encroaching 90 by then. Again, these are outdoor rehearsals so we were all dying and keep in mind it's a graduation rehearsal so we sat out there for what had to have been 1.5 to 2 hours just going over everything for graduation and with the sun shining right on top of us, it was not a pleasant experience. So the rehearsal eventually ends and the graduation, set to take place outdoors at our football stadium, was set to begin at 6 PM.

We had been watching the weather in advance, practically monitoring it hour-by-hour, so we knew that there was a chance of a strong, heat wave ending thunderstorm set to come that night. And something else you should know about me, I DON'T LIKE THUNDERSTORMS! So yeah, it's a 98 degree today that's going to end with an electrical storm right around the time of graduation. Great! Now, if the principal felt that the weather was going to be a hinderance and a problem, she would move the graduation inside. With the impedning thunderstorm at around the same time that we were set to receive our diplomas, we felt that there was no way it would be held outside. Guess what? The Greatness That Is Our Principal came through and the graduation would be held outdoors! Great......it's 98 degrees, I'm in a fucking dress shirt and a graduation robe that is as uncomfortable as hell, and there's a t-storm looming on our graduation. She would make a concession, though. We could wear a short-sleeved button down shirt so as not to die in the heat! And I didn't have one! But even if I did, though, that robe sticking right to my skin was not a pretty thought. So we start at the scheduled time and the sun is still out.

However, you can see the clouds looming on us. We start the commencement and as we walk out during Pomp And Circumstance, the sun goes away into the clouds. You could see them in the distance and while they seemed so close, at the same time, they were so far away. How much time did we have before the lightning storm of the year? We were not sure. But we would soon find out. The ceremony started out as planned and whether or not any of the speeches were cut short, we will never know. But everything went as rehearsed (we did not hear the speeches before this). You could see the clouds gaining on us and looming ever the more over us, but it seemed like with the pace things were going, we might just get this in on time. Maybe. There's a chance.

Then we started handing out the diplomas. Things started out well for this. Everyone had remained surprisingly calm through the first part of this. And thankfully so.

"Justin Joseph Feinberg."

I got up and received my diploma. Dark clouds looming over us, but still no thunder, lightning, or rain, and the crowd is still calm. But the clouds move in more and more, they are darker. And all of a sudden BANG!!! A lightning bolt! The crowd is getting antsy. Someone launches up an inflattable beach ball! And it starts to get bounced around the crowd. And now another one! And an inflattable monkey! Well at I did not have this nonsense going on when I received my diploma. We're nearing the end of the diplomas, but the lightning is becoming more and more frequent. And in one of the most haunting images I've ever seen, as I randomly turned my head to look at some of the parents sitting on the bleachers, a lightning bolt strikes seemingly right behind them. I'll never forget that site.....

And the wind! The wind has gradually picked up. And at this point I've completely forgotten about the fact that it is a humid sauna outside, I'm worried about getting out of the staduim and into my dad's car. We somehow finish through everyone's diploma. And now it's up to the class president to give his final address. There is noise everwhere and I can't hear. Great, this is the one speech we are suppesed to pay extra attention to as this is the time we are supposed to rotate our tassels and flip our hat into the air. Suffice to say that I was not the only one that could not hear. And in perhaps one of the most bizarre moments ever in any graduation, people just start randomly flipping their hat as they get taken away by the wind! Nobody can hear (or at least I couldn't and aside from maybe the people in the very front, I can't imagine who could), what else were we to do! And then more people do it including myself. And then pretty much everyone follows in what had to be the worstly coordinated cap toss ever. And perhaps the most ugly one as they were all taken miles down the road by the wind.

At this point, instead of the casual exit to the band, we all just got up and started going in different directions! Some embraced the weather as the winds of change most definitley were blowing through, others like me, did whatever we could to hightail it out of there because with my luck, whenever there's a storm and I'm stuck outside in one, I feel that there is a lightning bolt with my name on it waiting to strike me down. At this point my memory is a bit blank, how I found my Dad and family I have no earthly idea, but somehow I did and we started racing out of there. The rain miraculously has not began falling, but the lightning, thunder, and wind were in full force and then some. Despite the fact that I am about the slowest runner on the earth for someone my size and stature, I somehow manage a full-fledge sprint with my family to head for the car and get out of there. I see my friend along the way and asks if he has a ride or not as I pass him running (even though I later remembered that he previously told me that he did) And miraculously, still no rain! We get in the car and are one of the first cars out of there. I arrive home and again, the rain has not started out! We managed to get out of there without being rained on! We never got to sing the alma mater, the cap-tossing was a complete clusterfuck, but we got out of the rain! 5-minutes after we got home......down came the rain! And while the rain would be on and off, the lightning and thunder would persist well into the night, as I recall that I still heard lightning and saw thunder at around 11 PM-midnight that evening.

Yep, and through it all, that will always be the greatest night of my life. 6/10/08. Methacton High School Class of 2008. Never forget.
(Ed. note: I am not in this picture. This is screenshot from our graduation DVD is taken from the girls side but I use it because it has the best shot of the storm. Us guys had green caps and gowns, for anyone that cares).