I first met Mark Ward in Sunday School class at the Witherspoon Elementary School in Princeton in 4th grade. I was stunned to see him again in my 5th grade class as the new kid, as his family had moved from Princeton to Pennington. We became fast friends and were inseparable for the next four years. The oldest of the kids, Mark had a large family, three brothers and a sister, and lived in a gigantic Victorian manor house about a half mile from my home. His father was a psychiatrist. Mark was a cool guy and he was really smart. Like all preteens though, personal hygiene was not our strong suit. Yes, we weren’t the most popular boys in class, but we both decided we liked girls about the same time, so we could talk about that topic for hours. He loved music too and played music and sang. It was at his family’s summer house in Point Pleasant Beach, when I first heard the Sgt. Pepper’s LP. I remember Mark being in the cast of the musical “Oliver” where he played one of the orphans. We would sing the songs together while climbing trees in his massive front yard. Dr. Ward owned a white MG-B convertible sports car. I saw their lives untangle in a very horrific way. As I recall, Mark’s father was doing some experimental work with Lysergic Acid – or LSD, when his wife volunteered to be part of the test group. Mrs. Ward had a “bad trip” and had to be hospitalized for about a month. We watched Mark as a favor during that time. Soon after she was released, she had a very public flashback while shopping in Princeton. Very soon after that she and her husband had a terrible car wreck with that sports car and both nearly died. I still remember seeing the scars on her young face as she recuperated. Later on, Mark transferred from public school to private school and I saw a lot less of him. He eventually graduated from college, became a newspaper reporter and writer, and is now a Unitarian minister. It’s amazing how as kids we have no clue as to what our lives will eventually be. We just dream and get excited about the possibilities, but in time understand that “life happens.” And we become open to the whims of the universe and accept the idea that a higher power has a plan for all of us.