I remembered life working and living in Scranton, Pennsylvania, as after college I snagged my first teaching gig at a private school instructing English to sixth and seventh graders.
I was there for six years, as I fell in love with the area the moment I was hired, and got entrenched in the local culture as I frequented places like Cooper's Seafood House, my favorite spot for its Maryland Crab Roll and Shrimp Sampler.
The city had other amenities like The Drive In, and I lodged in my quaint little apartment on a hill, overlooking what seemed to be the greenest parts of the state of Pennsylvania in the Poconos.
I felt I would work at the school forever, as it paid well, and the student and parent base was strong, then it hit a financial dent.
"Mr. Gordon I'm sorry, but I won't be able to renew your contract," Henry told me, as he was the bearer of bad news being the principal.
This came at a time where I bought a house, and looked at other financial avenues to increase wealth. Being the person I am, I didn't fret, for I gathered my resume and put in for jobs in places like Texas or Tennessee, and a school in Dallas would not only accept my application, but offered me the chance to grow career wise.
"I will always come back to visit," I told myself of Scranton.
25 years later, here I was, back in the town that seemed to love me as the school held a staff reunion 10 years after it closed.
"George, budget cuts did us in," said Halley, a teacher who first showed me the ropes.
She and 70 others of us were in the Hilton Garden ballroom, as the last owner hosted a gathering to commemorate all the successes we as faculty and staff gaged in, with me hearing a deep, annoying northern accent in the not too far background.
"Mr. Gordon, I see you've done quite well for yourself," Henry said. "I must say you're not quite the derelict you once were, my son."
I despised Henry not because he laid me off, but his demeanor as principal at the school during defind him being a thorn in my side.
"20 plus years later, and you're no one's underling as an assistant principal," he said of my current gig when we crossed paths again.
I wondered how he knew of my life as I wasn't too much of social media, and the friends I had from the school felt the same of him.
"Come have a drink with me," he asked.
We walked to the bar as he requested Woodland Reserve for both of us. I noticed a difference in the hulky Henry as the liquor did something to enhance his spirit, or he was a retired chump who knew to turn down whatever he was doing to his staff.
"Life's changed. I'm retired now," he said as he was giddy.
We talked about my career and where I was headed, for I, too lingered the thought of being retired in my mind.
"You still single," he asked.
"You still married," I responded, as it was meant as a clap back, vice more than an actual concern.
Henry, in his six foot four body laughed louder than I ever witnessed of him as he seemed genuinely entertained.
"With a fast mouth like that you'll be a principal in no time," he told me.
I became irritated of him and moved around the ballroom, searching for more familiar faces as everyone was smiling and carrying on. The most gleeful were seen as I made my way full circle throughout the room, then somehow ended up in Henry's presence again.
"Hello there, handsome," he said to me.
I couldn't shake Henry as he seemed to be glued to me.
"Don't think in my time of knowing you, you had on a tuxedo," he said to me. "You clean up real nice."
"Thank you, " I said to him, as I felt a weird energy passing through us as we briefly made eye contact.
I stepped away and refilled my cup with booze, then found my way to an empty table as everyone was dancing, standing or gallivanting. I was enjoying the night of reuniting, and pondering what once was and could've been had i stayed in Scranton.
"You love life down in Texas," Henry asked, as he sat beside me.
He broke me out of my trance of Memory Lane.
"Pennsylvania is the same as it always was," he said to me.
"I loved it up here, Henry," I told him, as I was offsetting what I thought was his negativity.
"I ain't saying it's bad. Me and the wife love it here and ain't going nowhere," he said to me. "You still single these days?"
"Why do you care," I asked.
"Son, don't you get snarky with me. I always wondered if a handsome young man like you had a stable of broads somewhere. No way you're a virgin," he added.
I laughed at the latter notion as I was far from that title, but I was also tickled as he didn't know I had no desire for a woman.
"Everyone else came here with someone. The wife stayed home, as we've been doing a cornucopia of shindigs the last couple years, since I retired," he said.
The burly Henry, with his New York City accent, started to bond with me as we chatted about vacations, stocks, bonds, and other things where are interests seemed to intersect.