A Letter For My Classmates From St. Clare's

Hi All Of You,
I just wanted to take a little bit of time out to say how much I miss all of you. There are only a few exceptions of people that I don't care to see anymore, but I am thinking about all of you constantly lately. I think it's because of the pressure I'm under with these new neighbors I have and the fact that I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to pull off coming back to California permanantly or not. People, I want to come back. I don't want to just visit on vacations. I mean, I want to come back for the real deal. I want to be among you again and reconnect.
Along with all of you classmates, I'm thinking of our teachers we had. I'm thinking of Freddie-our boy's coach. I'm thinking of Sheila Klopper-the girls gym coach. I'm thinking of the two P.E. guys we had at two points in our 5th to 8th Grade time of being together. Remember? One was an African-American whose name I can't recall and the other one was a guy named Greg (if I'm recalling correctly).
I am aware of the existence of a thing online called Classmates.com. I have tried using it without actually subscribing to it. I have been told by others online that it is basically a rip-off. I periodically get messages saying that (today for example) 5 of my St. Clare's classmates have found me. Well, I don't plan on subscribing to that service. But if you have been seeing my Facebook page or have been reading this blog of mine, I have a favor to to ask of you all. Could you please come out of the woodwork and get a hold of me. I pride myself on just how detailed my memory is of our times together. But I would love to talk to all of you so that you may help me to trigger more memeories I might have buried in my subconscious. Also, it would help me with some names I don't remember.
For names, I can give you a prime example. Our own classmate that we had for a couple of years, Maggie, is one person that I only remember as Maggie W. She had a Polish last name. I think I know what it is but I am not 100% certain.
I am also very open to hearing from people who may not have necessarily been members of our class. There were a lot of you who I recall, but I can't place your names. I remember I used to crack up a younger kid named George (I used to call him Georgie all of the time). Did Laurie R. have a younger brother named George? You see what I mean?
Without going into a lot of detail at this particular time, as it is a part of the story I'm trying to tell, I've been thinking about Mike Miranda a lot and how much I miss him. I plan to tell all of you what I learned from his Dad in a conversation I had with him back in 1997. We had a one on one conversation that was quite emotional.
In telling my story of how I recall things from those days, I am not out to hurt anybody. But I do want to give you my side of things. I feel it very important to do so. On the other hand, I am very scared. I am worried that life may have somehow changed me enough that that you may not want me to be among you anymore. It is my greatest fear.
There is a very important aspect to telling you my story which deals with the brief time I was in Santa Clara from October of 1996 to March of 1997. Some incredible things happened to me while I was there which ties in with you even though I was literally only in contact with a few of you when I came down. I had what can only be described as an incredibly uplifting chance encounter with Bill R. I saw George & Jay Migs on Christmas Day '96 that was just beautiful.
For those of you who aren't aware of this, I lived in a downstairs apartment on Lincoln for 5 months after my Mom, both of my brothers and I sold our last ranch we had. I came down thinking I was going to stay. Among other things, I missed my Mom too much and I moved back up. Though things had changed, I felt like I was breathing in my own skin again. The missing ingredient was that I wasn't seeing any of you and I also didn't have a computer at the time.
So please, try to get a hold of me here in Eugene, o.k.? I really want to hear from you. I also want to very much encourage you to comment on my posts and to become followers of my blog. I would also like it if we could encourage some of our teachers to come out of hiding and be a part of us again. Mrs. Schellene is gone (and I have a combination of hilarious and sad story to tell of my reconciling with her in late 1996 or very early '1997), but I really want to hear from Sue Johnson (most especially), Bonnie Kulhmann ( who has changed her name and I'm scared to reveal it here for her safety. I have spoken to her on the phone a few times) and Bea Wills. I'd also love to have the former Sister Nancy and Sister Geraldine be a part of this as well. When I was down there, Miss Kokes was still alive though I didn't get the chance to see her. I don't know if she still is or not.
I have our old school photos on hand now and I will have each one out as I go through the stories of each class from 5th to 8th Grade. I am planning (likely tonight or tomorrow) on searching for the mass card I still have of John Perry's when he passed away so tragically. BTW, if anybody ever runs into Lisa Perry, could they please tell her I said hello and that I hope she is doing fine? I'd appreciate it.
Anyway, I think I've rambled on enough for now. But I do pass my love on to all of you. I have not been back since I came back up in 1997. I was supposed to come down for the last reunion you guys had. I was all set to come down when my old used Ford Escort wagaon I had broke down. I ended up buying a new car and not a used one. That ended up blowing my coming down. At the time, a train or plane ticket was not an option due to more than one reason.
What has become of Charleen C? What has become of Chris R? I miss you so much. I will try to hammer out the next story pretty soon. I love all of you.
Steve