Jason Klein:
CLASS OF 1977
Ridge Road Elementary SchoolClass of 1977
North haven, CT
North Haven High SchoolClass of 1984
North haven, CT
Wellesley High SchoolClass of 1983
Wellesley, MA
Gamaliel Bradford High SchoolClass of 1983
Wellesley, MA
Upham Elementary SchoolClass of 1977
Wellesley, MA
Jason's Story
Life
We moved around a lot until I was seven: New Jersey, Massachusetts, then Connecticut. We moved to North Haven, Connecticut in 1972, I graduated North Haven High School in 1984.
I went to Shenandoah College: wrong place, wrong time. I did the "jack of all trades" thing through my twenties: waiter, bartender, dump truck driver, school bus driver, legal assistant, restaurant manager, a clown doing kid's birthday parties, and three years driving over the road busses from New York to Boston, Philly, and DC.
On a vacation in Florida, I visited Key West and fell in love. With Key West. I moved down and started driving the Old Town Trolley, giving guided tours of the Southernmost city. I bought a bicycle, grew a beard, and taped the ringer on my phone to the "off" positon. Life was simple, life was good.
The bad news is, the simple life is gone. The good news is, it was worth it. In October of 2002, I fell in love again. I've been told I'm the only tour guide in Old Town Trolley history to marry one of his passengers. (If this sounds unprofessional, you've never been to Key West.)
In February of 2004, I fell in love a third time. For the first time, I held my baby daughter in my arms. I told her "Your name is Sara. I love you. My name is Daddy, you can call me Jason, and your mother calls me "poopy-head."
Hey, honesty is important.
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We started living the island life of the non-millionaires: Place too small, place too small, place too small. On the other hand, there was live music everywhere we went.
In 2005 Hurricane Wilma hit. Us. Everyone's OK, but the house was trashed.
We evacuated north a few days ahead of the hurricane. We stayed with my best friend who lives in the suburbs of Washington D.C. There is an Old Town Trolley in Washington D.C., so I transferred up, we found an apartment, and we now live in the suburbs of Montgomery County, Maryland.
I miss my old commute,(a ten-minute walk past boats and palm trees), but D.C has the one of the best transit systems in the country, and I'm glad I don't have to drive to work. This is a great place to raise a kid: there are family friendly places every three miles, and schools are great.
Meanwhile, I've learned not to refer to DC as "Key West" on my tour, and not to call 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the "Hemmingway House."
If you're visiting Ford's theatre in DC, come across the street and say hi, or maybe even take my tour. I've run into one former classmate on tour, with her husband and kids. (She and I were in the same class in sixth grade.)
Well, my allotted space is almost gone. I'd better stop here so one day at a reunion, we have something to talk about besides how old we're getting.
Thanks for reading.
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