I remember spending a few days with the Thompsons (friends of the family from Avondale College) at Pacific Union College. I think it was the summer of 1982. I think it was a Sunday.
Eye of the Tiger was playing on the radio. Everyone I knew was gone. I felt lonely. On the upside, I could watch whatever I wanted on TV (which was limited in my home).
So I turned the dial to Channel 2 and watched enthralled the 1968 movie Romeo & Juliet. I particularly enjoyed the nude scene. It was the most alive I felt all day.
Then I walked around the campus, hoping but failing to connect. I don’t think I had a conversation all day long. All I had was the radio and TV and books and my own fantasies to sustain me.
I tend to idealize my days at Pacific Union College but there were as many lonely ones there as anywhere I’ve been.
I went swimming at the pool that afternoon and when I came out of the water and back to my locker, I saw that my shoes and basketball had been stolen.
Whenever I see this movie, it reminds me of a lonely Sunday before my Junior year of high school when all my friends were gone and I was left to my own devices in the community I regarded as the happiest place on earth.
