Michael Caldwell:  

I have scanned through the lists of names of the people I graduated with. I came across names of those who were so familiar to me, but I'm confused 'cause it is going on forty years now. My memory of the everyone and the events of back when have almost faded over the years. Of course we'll always remember those close friends and carry their memories through-out our lives. I realized later from emailing a few other classmates that not remembering those days from back when was not just unique to me. We have all moved on since then and we have experienced new things such as College, Military Service, Viet Nam, Marriages, babys, on & on. All of which became foremost in our memories. My interests into looking into some of my old High School friends are simply out of my curiosity on how they may be doing NOW, and to discover where they may be living NOW. My curiosity is not so much to learn their history for the past forty years. Being respective of those friends, I feel that their past forty year history is really none of my business. Should they want to share more or should I want to share more at a later time, it should be said within the confidence of the renewed friendship. I've discovered by talking to a few buddies how hard the economy had effected them. I heard stories how they lost over 40% of their retirement investments, their 401Ks at work, their jobs got outsourced to either Asia, India, Pakistan or Mexico, they are at risk of losing their homes, on and on and on. This kind of news really wrenches my stomach hearing these stories from them. It reminds me why I'm a recluse in a little town in Oregon. Without knowing how I can help them, I decided to post fifty jokes in the bulletin section on my Profile page. Laughter for me has helped me get through some of my most difficult and toughest times in my life. It gave me the energy and strength to endure them. It is my hope that maybe by posting the jokes that it may help them as well. Doing something for them is better than doing nothing. If I was able to even bring about a smile than it will have been worth it. I will now continue sharing with you as to what is current in my life in my past ten years. I met my present wife, Vicki, in 1997. We moved up to Florence, Oregon in 2001 when the population here was still 6500. Compared to Los Angeles Co., Orange Co. & San Diego Co., Florence is a little slow-paced picturesque coastal fishing town where the daily pace is generally slow. It was to us exactly what we were wanting to find in choosing a place for our senior years. Crime is very low 'cause the larger percentage of the populat...Expand for more