Rant #1,298: Old Friends

I am 57 years old, born in 1957, and some days I feel like I was 25 again, other days I feel all of my 57 years, and then some.

But on Saturday night, I felt like I was not 25 again, but 10 years old.

My wife and I met up with an old, old friend, from my Rochdale Village days, and his lovely wife, and well, three hours sped by like five minutes as we talked about our past, our present, and our future.

And my parents were part of the conversation for at least a half hour--they go to bed early at this point in their lives--and it made it all the more momentous of an occasion for both myself and my friend, and yes, the wives too.

My friend David is a very successful allergy doctor in South Carolina now, but way back when, the only allergies that he knew were the ones that I had and our friend Howie had.

We were typical New York City kids in the 1960s and early 1970s, very brash, very able to take care of ourselves, but also very naive on certain areas of life.

All we really cared about was if we had enough kids to play punchball, or stickball, and really, very little else mattered.

So, at this pretty impromptu meeting at my house, we kind of caught up with everything that has been going on for the past nearly 40 years, and where we are headed in the future.

It hasn't always been smooth for David and I in our lives, but right now, we are both pretty much where we want to be after those bumps in the road.

Last year, during that large reunion that I helped organize, I saw David, and we spoke here and there, but it was very hard to really speak to him one on one with so many people there.

Here, we just sat and talked about everything under the sun, and it was fun, fun and more fun.

There is something about childhood friends talking as adults that is very alluring, and well, this was quite that.

And what's more, the wives melded pretty well too, which I thought was fantastic.

I had never met his wife, and she is really a lovely person, and I am so happy that David has found happiness with her.

The pictures I have put up here are poor, but even if they were good, they don't really show how much fun we all had on Saturday night.

We have subsequently asked them to cruise with us in the future, and they have invited us to South Carolina, so the lines of communication are wide open.

I wish we lived closer to each other, but so be it. I guess that the miles, and the years, haven't dampened our spirits one bit, and I can say that without a doubt, David and I will always be friends. We are connected at the hip, and the connection remains strong.

It's really great to have childhood friends, and our 50-year bond remains strong.

How about getting together a game of punchball ... we need about four more players ... I am sure we can find them, even after all these years.