Off to College . . .

After a summer of dating my cousin Kathy's friend Lisa from Stone's Business College, a life of celibacy was starting to look like maybe not the best idea, but without any other plans in play, summer ended, and off I went to Seminary College.  The college was in Altamont, New York.  I don't have a lot of memories, or pictures of Altamont, because I didn't stay there all that long . . .

This was the building in Altamont.  It's a little west of Albany, and they have winter there.  Much moreso than we ever had in Connecticut.  I went there in September, 1966.  It was a two year college, and then, if they stayed, students went to Novitiate for a year in Bloomfield, CT before continuing on the path to ordination.  From grade school to ordination took 13 years.  Needless to say, I didn't get that far (not as a Catholic, anyway).  I didn't finish the first semester. 

Much as I wanted to understand God, confused as I was about what He may have wanted from me, from the time I got to Altamont until the day I left, the sensation that I didn't really belong there grew until it became overwhelming.    I think it was in early December that I went to see our "Prefect of Discipline" for my first, and turns out, only, semi-annual "visit."

He said, "how's it going?" and I answered, "fine."

He said, "what do you mean by fine?" and I answered, "I'm going home."

He said, "when?" and I answered, "this afternoon."

And he said, "good."

I didn't have an answer.  I didn't need one.  That afternoon, someone drove me to the Greyhound station in Albany, and that night I was home.  It took a long time before I wondered why he never tried to persuade me to stay, or even asked me why I was leaving. 

I think that maybe his sensation that I didn't really belong there was even more overwhelming than mine . . .