Monday, October 5, 2020

Defining Moments: My Second Decade

We moved to Cerritos as I entered the sixth grade, which actually brought me into junior high school.  For some reason, I decided to run for Treasurer of the student body.  I was shy, relatively introverted, and definitely a nerd. But I was already putting myself out there.  By the time I was in the seventh grade I had decided to run for student body president.  I wasn't popular, didn't know that many kids, but I remember giving my speech.  One of the teachers told me it was an excellent speech.  I lost to the popular girl.  I liked to play basketball, although I wasn't very good.  School was boring to me, and I learned to speed read.  This allowed me to read books in 10 minutes and write decent book reports.  

Near the end of seventh grade, I decided that junior high school was a waste of time and I came home one day and told my parents that I wanted to skip the eighth grade and go right in to high school.  It's funny, I don't really remember much about that decision.  However, my drive to push forward has always been strong.  I really didn't feel like the eighth grade had much to offer me.  We decided that I'd take a couple of classes at the high school that summer, and if I did well, I could skip the eighth grade.  The two classes turned out to be Oceanography and Ecology.  My teacher for both was Mr. McNally.  He was also the Chemistry teacher at the brand new, not even built yet, Cerritos High School.  

I have vague recollections of a field trip with older kids, but that I somehow managed to fit in.  I was the smart kid. Fortunately, I'd had a growth spurt, which meant at least I wasn't too short or slight.  Summer school went well and in September of 1972 I started high school.  Ninth grade was actually in the afternoons at Gahr High, as Cerritos High wouldn't be built until the following year.  I often rode my 3 speed Sears bike to school.  Some mornings I attended the morning minyan with the old men at Temple in preparation for my Bar Mitzvah.  My Bar Mitzvah speech became controversial as I wanted to talk about social justice issues and the rabbi resisted my efforts.  I won out, if I recall correctly.  I don't know what happened to that speech, I'd love to read it again.

I'd already set my mind on graduating high school early, but during the summer after my second year I changed my mind.  Maybe I realized that I wasn't quite ready and that I might as well "enjoy" the full four years of high school.  

September of 1976 brought what is arguably the most defining moment of my life.  It was the week before starting classes at UC San Diego.  I was in my dorm room in Discovery Hall when one of my suite mates brought a girl upstairs to meet us.  Her name was Sherri. I could have been Michael Corleone in The Godfather as I was literally struck by a lightning bolt. There was something about her.  In fact, the first thing that I thought was that she was way out of my league.  She had long hair and was wearing overalls.  My heart definitely skipped a beat.  Who would have known that six years later we would be married, and 44 years later we would have two wonderful daughters and two grandchildren.

During my second year of college I became confused in regards to what I wanted to do in life.  I changed my major a few times.  I stopped studying and focused on practicing and playing intramural floor hockey.  It was in the spring of 1978 when I realized that I was failing all of my classes.  I went to the Deans office and asked what my options were. They told me I could withdraw.  Even today, I remember thinking,"you're kidding me, that's all?" I took the opportunity to withdraw, knowing then that my record would only show that I withdrew.  My grades would never be known.  I also made a momentous decision. I would immigrate to Israel.  This was something that had been swirling in my head for some time.  I'd always felt a connection to Israel, especially after I visited during the summer before starting college.  

Before I left the country, I visited Sherri.  We had broken up earlier in the year, but something made me want to see her before leaving.  We had a nice visit and I hugged her in the driveway of her parents house before getting in my parents Ford station wagon to drive home.  For a moment, I hesitated.  There was still something there. But, I was destined to travel across the world for an experience that could impact my life in many ways.  

In Israel, I lived on an Ulpan (a Kibbutz where new immigrants stayed), where we were to learn Hebrew, and work part-time.  My work was in the dairy, where I learned to milk cows, though I mostly cleaned up after them.  One day, I visited the Kibbutz library and happened to see a thermodynamics textbook that I'd had in college.  Something clicked and I realized that I didn't want to milk cows for the rest of my life.  I also knew then that I really did want to be a doctor, something that I'd decided when I was nine years old (hmm, maybe should have listed that in my first decade of defining moments).  I flew home after having been in Israel for 3 months, and one of my first calls was to Sherri.  We started dating again shortly thereafter. 

No comments: