Then, of course, life happened. Uisdean Ruadh and his mother both got expelled from their homes and then relocated. Not too long after that, TB the Elder passed. Then Summer ended and we all got trapped back into the web of the common work week.
Until this past Monday when a combination of factors - me being at The Ranch and all of us having a day off - presented itself. And so, we celebrated.
"Celebrated" is a pretty elaborate term for what we actually did.
We all met at the high school we graduated from to walk around and take pictures. The school still looks somewhat the same in form, although they have added buildings where parking and basketball courts used to be and entire buildings have been pulled down and rebuilt. We could still reel off the names of teachers we had and where they taught. We took our picture in front of the theater which was really the center of our existence during high school as well as the music building (or at least where the music building is now).
The day was overcast but not terribly rainy and because of the holiday, we had the campus largely to ourselves, which both made for good pictures and good memories. We crossed the paths and streets we had undoubtedly run or walked hundreds of times in years gone by - for me at least, this was the first time in almost forty years I had done more than just drive by the campus.
After our visit and photo shoot, we adjourned to a local lunch place where we ate lunch, divided up a box of forty cookies (our celebratory portion), and talked. The talk was perhaps a little more about high school but was much more about the now: how children were doing, our health, options about what we were thinking about doing after "work" - the sorts of things friends discuss when they are together. By common unspoken consent, we largely avoided current events and the real world (we always try to), as it can create issues where there need be done.
We parted after lunch - the Actor to continue his work of chain-sawing downed trees, Uisdean Ruadh and I back to The Ranch where visited for another two hours and watched the rain fall.
It was a good day. And almost the perfect way to celebrate forty years of being together.
I have seen only one of my boyhood friends. We lived in same neighborhood and even attended the same 1st grade classroom together. Ironically, it was the only time we shared a classroom.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea where he lives, but occasionally run into him while we both drive / dine about. Mostly small talk, how the neighborhood we grew up has changed so much.
Have a great day Ruben !
Ruben - I occasionally have talked to other friends that perhaps go back a bit farther in time, but they are much more the relationship you discuss: we see each other occasionally, speak about old times or how things have changed. For these two friends, we have actively been involved in each other's lives for 40 years. I am so thankful I have even this privilege.
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
A bit of luck to have friendships last decades TB, they are part of what makes life worth living.
ReplyDeleteNylon12, I am blessed beyond measure that these gentleman have elected to put up with me for 40 years, even when I took off and moved halfway across the country. It makes me wonder how rare or not rare this is anymore, and if people even try to put in the effort.
DeleteOnly the building that I attended kindergarten remains of the buildings I attended until high school graduation and it is now a private residence. Even all but one (as of about a decade ago) of my college buildings are no longer.
ReplyDeleteBut I make up for it by living in a very rural area and still see my former friends and classmates fairly regularly, some I've known my entire conscious life. Which is why for the brief period of time when I was working well away from home, it was quite refreshing to have people know you by only what I tell them and not from nearly 50 years of history.
It can be good and bad of course, Ed. Fortunately the good has managed to be preserved in my case (having very little to actually do with me that I can tell).
DeleteCongratulations! That is an accomplishment. Those are deep roots.
ReplyDeleteI ran into one friend that worked at the same company, but up in Amarillo. He was always a classy guy. That was years ago. No one from junior high. I know of three of my buds from High School. One is a mobile mechanic that cross dresses. One was a very late bloomer that is toxic, and the other is a production engineer that lives in a bourbon bottle. We have nothing in common any more and fell out of touch as a result about fifteen years ago.
I'm not the best at long distance relationships. I tend to be focused on what's in front of me at the moment and then so much time has passed....
STxAR - I do indeed consider myself fortunate. Honestly, I have lost touch with everyone I attended college with and most of high acquaintances. Part of it is life of course; part of it is the fact that all sides have to make the effort, not just us. Fortunately, I have friends that were willing to make the effort.
DeleteGlad you had such a wonderful friendiversary, TB. :)
ReplyDeleteYou all be safe and God bless!
Thank you Linda. It has been a while since I undertook something so enjoyable.
DeleteHard to imagine. I dropped out of school at 15 and moved 3000 miles away. Not many friends left from that sort of separation.
ReplyDelete"livin' on the road my friend, was gonna leave you free and clean,now you wear your skin like iron, your breath as harsh as kerosene..." It was a different sort of "college".
That would be hard to imagine in that situation Raven.
DeleteOddly enough, the current work environment strikes me a bit like that - literally I speak to almost no-one that I used to work with, even those who were at my current employer and then left. It is as if when one leaves, all is severed immediately and there is no looking back.