Cancer is Cruel — My Superintendents Journey

The path of being a Superintendent is not linear. It does not go from point A, to point B, to point C and so on with predictable ease. The path is more like going forward, backwards, up, down, sideways, upside down and even turning in circles. It varies by day depending upon the phone call, text message, email, visit, meeting or event. Even the order of blog topics adjusts depending upon outside factors. My last piece left off describing the beginning of school shut-downs last March due to Covid. Today I jump ahead. Today my best friend died from cancer. The same cancer I have. Diagnosed two months ahead of me. Feel free to re-read those last few lines.

If we are lucky in life we accumulate and keep friends as we grow older. If we are blessed, some become close friends. If we are extremely lucky, one becomes a best friend. I met what would become my best friend in 1995. We began teaching social studies next door to each other at Avon HS, Avon Indiana. Two guys who liked football, had the same mischievous smiles, were extremely competitive and didn’t understand why everyone wasn’t the same. We were able to teach together, coach together and share our families together. The long list of similarities over the years seemed to make our friends and family both laugh and shake their heads at the same time.

As I moved to administration and other school districts on my journey I lost the daily interaction with my friend, but I never lost my friend. Whether we talked every week, or not for a month, the conversations always picked right back up…