Where Are They Now? — Eric Orozco

Talk about procrastination. It’s the week of the reunion and now I send this in. Aaah. Just like high school.

My story of life-after-graduation starts much like many of yours: school and mission. I enrolled at UVCC for a year before going on a mission. You’ll notice I used the word “enrolled”, and not “went” or “attended”. I was now an “adult” and nobody could make me go to class. I had a car, a job, and money; going back to school was not a priority. I went just enough to earn C’s and D’s and avoid being put on probation. After a year of school and work, I was called to serve a mission in the Dakotas and Wyoming. Exciting, huh? My first area was 6 hours from home by car. There was no culture shock or new language to assimilate. We ate at Taco Bell and shopped the same stores as home. It was a fun time, however. Eastern Wyoming is cattle and oil country and a lot of members there are ranchers. That meant lots of steak and free gas for our car! I even hunted some elk and antelope. Oops, I wasn’t supposed to say that. It was with investigators, of course. The down side was being stuck in a village of 700 people for 7 months. During some transfers, I was able to spend a couple of days with a fellow PHS 88er, Jonathan Jensen, in Gillette, Wyo.

After arriving home, I enrolled back at UVCC and got married. I married a wonderful woman who gave me 5 beautiful kids. They are Josh (15), Katy (12), Conor (10), Cameron (8), and Baylee (6). We lived in Provo and Orem for the first 8 years while I was going to school. I was in school for a lot of years trying to decide what I wanted to do. I majored in Engineering, Accounting, English, and Business Management during those years, bouncing from one to the other. In the latter part of the 90’s, UVCC became UVSC and started offering a 4-year Business Management program. I decided to go with that and just beat the new millennium in earning my Bachelor’s degree. After graduating and getting a new job, we moved to Tooele and were there until recently. For the past 8 years I have been working in downtown SLC managing a janitorial and maintenance company working at the ZCMI Center Mall.

Now we get to the drama of my life. These last 8 months have been the most miserable I’ve ever had, as well as the most uplifting. Last fall, my wife, Kari, informed me that she was done with our marriage. We separated and our divorce finalized just a few weeks ago (1st week of June). This was a shock to the system. We certainly had problems but this was not something I would have imagined happening to us. The saddest part of this for me is the fact that she wouldn’t even try. My family was ripped from me and I was powerless to stop it. I tried everything I could think of to save the marriage but it all failed. However, out of my pain and despair came the strength and blessings of a rebuilt and renewed faith. I kept my head up and endured to the very bitter end. The Lord has been very generous to me because I chose to follow Him and make myself better. It has only been in the last few months that I have noticed the sun shining and birds singing again. I also have reacquainted myself with an old love, golf! With no wife and kids around, I have been able to spend a lot more time at the golf course.

I wasn’t planning on attending the reunion because I’m not really in a celebratory mood but friends and family have been pestering me to go, so I signed up almost on the last day. I’ll be there and I’ll even try to smile. Maybe I’ll sit in the corner with Tiffany (you need to have read her blog to get this) and we can stare at our shoes together. I have had occasion to run into some of you during the years. Two instances are particularly embarrassing involving me not remembering who you were. The first was Traci Blair. My younger brother used to live in their ward and I was visiting for a blessing, I think. I was standing in the foyer with one of my kids, as she was, when she came over and started talking to me like I knew who she was. I think I pretended to remember her. She finally walked away and I’m sure she thought I was an idiot because my memory of the event clearly paints me as a tool. It wasn’t until I left the church that I slapped my forehead and said, “That was Traci Hall!” I remember thinking that she was probably going to see all the other grads and tell this story about my idiocy. The second instance involved Sheryl Hale. It was at the ZCMI Center Mall and she came right up to me and said, “Hi, Eric. My name’s Sheryl. We went to high school together, remember?” Of course I didn’t or I wouldn’t be writing this story. I faked it, of course, but I got the feeling that she didn’t buy it. I did eventually remember her, 5 minutes after she disappeared into the mall. I even tried to find her but she was gone. This one is the more tragic of the two stories because Sheryl was one of my friends, and I didn’t remember her! I used to see Matt Riddle a lot when he worked downtown. I remembered him. Also, Matt and Andrea Urban (neighbors).

Life isn’t too bad anymore. The darkness has passed and good things are happening. I now live in Riverton just up the road from the District. My beloved Red Sox are champions once again (so much pain absolved, especially ’86 and ‘03), the Cougars are reigning (I love my season tickets!), and my slice isn’t as bad as it used to be. I have been (quietly) looking around at the single women our age and so far, all those I have found are insane. “Oh, thank you for sharing your latest mammogram results. Check, please!” You know, with all the stories of divorce from our class, maybe there should have been a speed dating event at the reunion. We could try to make some more PHS love connections and beef up the Halls of Love page. We could also play a game at the reunion with Tony Abbott called “Hey, Tony, remember that one time…?” and see how many stories we end up with.

Oh, by the way Peter, I forgive you for throwing me out the window of that classroom between A and B wings.