We shared an apartment for a few years, from 1972-'74...and pretty much did all of our partying together during that time. Our girlfriends were also roommates so we were a pretty steady 4some.
Over the last 45 years we've seen each other less than a half-dozen times. He and his wife stopped by our lake home on their way from Kentucky to Maine.
Our relationship is one of those that seems to never miss a beat. No awkward moments as we realize our differences have surpassed our similarities. We still seem to be able to know what the other is thinking. It's really fun.
We are older, slower, heavier, grayer. I'm balder but he is not. We reminisced about the meals we cooked, the adventures and mis-adventures. It's as if the years never parted us. We had a lot of laughs in a couple of days.
One of the gems of our visit was when he was talking about their wedding and all of a sudden he pointed at me and said "you were my best man"...and I said..."uh, no I wasn't. You were MY best man, but your brother was your best man."...His wife confirmed this. As it turns out, over the years his brother and he have had a falling out...so he looked at me and said "You SHOULD have been my best man"...
We are both comfortably retired and we were talking about money. He's doing some major house repairs and we got laughing about how some of our $5,000 dollar projects turned into 25K projects and I told him I have stopped worrying abut that stuff. The epiphany for me was not that I've realized I'm wealthy, but that I realized that in 14 years I'll be 80.
Off they went, and I am once again reminded of the power of old friendships, and their ability to withstand the passing of time. Also I was reminded that since we live so far apart we probably won't have very many such times again, so I should do my best to do my part to get us back together as often as we can.
Over the last 45 years we've seen each other less than a half-dozen times. He and his wife stopped by our lake home on their way from Kentucky to Maine.
Our relationship is one of those that seems to never miss a beat. No awkward moments as we realize our differences have surpassed our similarities. We still seem to be able to know what the other is thinking. It's really fun.
We are older, slower, heavier, grayer. I'm balder but he is not. We reminisced about the meals we cooked, the adventures and mis-adventures. It's as if the years never parted us. We had a lot of laughs in a couple of days.
One of the gems of our visit was when he was talking about their wedding and all of a sudden he pointed at me and said "you were my best man"...and I said..."uh, no I wasn't. You were MY best man, but your brother was your best man."...His wife confirmed this. As it turns out, over the years his brother and he have had a falling out...so he looked at me and said "You SHOULD have been my best man"...
We are both comfortably retired and we were talking about money. He's doing some major house repairs and we got laughing about how some of our $5,000 dollar projects turned into 25K projects and I told him I have stopped worrying abut that stuff. The epiphany for me was not that I've realized I'm wealthy, but that I realized that in 14 years I'll be 80.
Off they went, and I am once again reminded of the power of old friendships, and their ability to withstand the passing of time. Also I was reminded that since we live so far apart we probably won't have very many such times again, so I should do my best to do my part to get us back together as often as we can.