Life After High School, But Still On The Rock!

I took this picture earlier this morning using Google Earth. For those who do not recognize it, this NAS Keflavik, Iceland(well formally it was at least). I was able to zoom in and out to various places all over the base, I was even able to see where my house used to be from the imprints left after the housing was torn down. Although I remember most of these buildings, it was a little more difficute to remember what they all were when I was there. However, as I identified many of them it seemed that each one held a story, or many stories in most cases. If you look at the bottom midle of the picture you will see what was, at the time, the Youth Center where I worked and met all those awesome kids that still hold a place in my heart. See the blue U shaped building at the top and a little to left of center? Well that is the old A.T. Mahan High School. I'm so grateful to have seen Francesca Laurenzi earlier this year and share stories, which was equally amazing because we were several years apart in school and never hung out, but the magic that is Iceland allowed us to talk as if we were best friends. In a few weeks another former school mate, Alex Benjamin, is going to be here in Chicago and we are going to get the chance to see each other and I'm sure that it will be the same scenario(I am also hoping that Angela Romero-Faulkner with make a guest apperance that weekend).

As I have said before being in Iceland brought a closeness among people who might not have been otherwise. Though options were limited in many ways, the limitations were a perfect setting for creating your own fun, even at the expense of our parents at times. As with every teenager in history knows, although you say you will keep in touch after graduation and nothing will change, it always does. When you do not have to get up every morning and drudge off to school in order to collectivly see all of your friends, the distance immediately begins to come between you. Now imagine, if you will, how different life would have been if that was not really possible. Sure you stop going to school, or do you? You will not see your best friend everyday, as before, because you do not have homeroom together anymore, or will you? Now with all this free time on your hands you can do anything you want to, or can you? You have graduated from high school after 13 (for some of us 14) years and never have to look back, see those teachers that drove you nuts, put up with the people you could not stand, and best of all you do not have to set foot in that building again....or do you?

(Gordon McMahon has been lucky enough to go back to Iceland recently, and was able to get into the old high school. I finally looked at these pictures today, after avoiding them for some reason...ok ok ... because I did not want to get all mushy and teary eyed. Nevertheless, I looked at them and the memories came rushing back yet again. Check out A.T. Mahan High School, courtesy of Gordon, oh and G thanks for letting me use your pictures.)
Having limited builidings in Iceland, the high school also served as a meeting hall and was used in the evenings for college classes. So no sooner had we left this building behind, did we find ourselves right back in it for more school. The major difference being that we actually had to behave ourselves as adults(how the hell do you do that, I am still working on that one)and did you know that it is much harder to stay awake in school at 7pm versus 7am? Although during certains times of the year it was pretty irrevelevent considering 24 hours of sunlight or darkness was the norm.
I took drama in high school just to fill space and really enjoyed it, so much so that I still wanted to be a part of it afterwards, thus landing me right back in the building for yet another reason. Now as you already have been told, with the communtiy being so small, social gatherings were few and far between....well at least organized ones. So you find yourself going to dances, back at the school, just so you have some of that social interaction that you were pretty sure that you did not want so much of anymore. But hey you are not a student so you did not have to play by the same rules! That is until you are kicked out of a dance, although your date was still a student, because you(and your friends)did not get along with one of the teachers, who just happened to be the chaperon. So after all these years of waiting to be a graduate and not follow the same social norms or have to obey the same people, you are screwed!
So much for the light at the end of the tunnel, so much for getting away from it all, or getting away from anyone. The picture to left shows the Chapel of Light, where myself and Amy Barclay took on the challenge of singing the Michael W. Smith song, "Friends". I remember trying not to look at Eddie Parker, my best friend, because I knew I would cry, but I did catch a glimpse of him(I mean how could I not, he was my best friend for crying out loud)and when I did, he had tears streaming down his face. I am pretty sure that is why, to this day, I will sing with my eyes closed most of the time. Close your eyes and be amazed at what you see in your mind, the memories, the moments that have changed your life....for me a great deal of them are in Iceland. They lie in the closeness and isolation that we were all forced, yet lucky to experience.

Though life after high school did not change as much as we might have thought that it would it did give us a lot more time on our hands to conjure up ways to have fun, and to continually come up with new ways of doing the same ole things. Some of the greatest moments shared on base were spent at the air terminal in the middle of the night. Thinking back on it now, it seems that we all ended up drawn there to hang out, chill out and talk, just spend some time away from other things and why? If you stop and thing about it, of all the places on the base it was the most important place on base. The air terminal was, not only the best place for late night hot chocolate, but also our link in and out of the twighlight zone. The place where, when we stepped off that plane for the first time and for the last, our lives forever changed. The air terminal served as a
pit stop for the troops returning from Desert Storm and we were able to meet and thank the men who were over there, putting their lives at risk for ours. I remember taking an "F" on an assignment for a Sociolgy class because I did not want to bombard them with questions, I just wanted to be someone who was grateful for their service, regardless of whether I felt the situation they were in was wrong or right. Hell it was not the first "F" I had recieved on an assignment, but at least this time it was on purpose. The time s spent at the terminal were almost surreal in a lot of cases. I am sure that I am not the only person that looks back and thinks of it as a place to go and just leave what we were dealing with at the door. I talk a great deal about how small, isolated and sheltered we were from reality in the states, but that does not mean that we did not have our own share of things to deal with. Those things may have seemed small to things that had to be dealt with for other teenagers, but for us they were big, no matter what they were. You could take solace in the terminal, and of course get away with some crazy and emotional moments that are simply unexplainable.

The bowling alley, the movie theater, Dead Man's Hill, the mini-mart(it was always good to have a friend working there), Wendy's, The USO, the community center(where only four best friends could plan a party, pay for it all, get drunk as hell, get in a huge fight and then not remember any of it the next day). These are just a few of the places at NAS Keflavik that served to be our life both before and after graduation. I imagine it would take an enitire encyclopedia of experiences to give even a small view of what it was life for us. The beauty of the rock could only be outshadowed by the incredible life that we all had there. Come on, where else in life can you be accused of egging someones house when you are literally thousands of miles away?

Each time that I sit down to try and write about Iceland I find myself in turmoil. It is so hard to try and focus in on things because they always give way to more and more. My first thoughts were to simply write a few things and let that be that, but when there is so much more it is impossible. I am sure for some people reading this would confuse them beyond belief. I am very grateful to know that for at least a few people it is like being able to go back and do it all over again.....because I know that I would in a heartbeat!