Forever Friends

I have a few forever friends.  These are the few folks I have known since my brain discovered it could remember.  John is one of those friends.  We have shared so many growing up and growing old events that we sometimes can remember the rest of the story the other one of us just forgot.

It is rare in these transient times to have a friend with whom you lived in the same neighborhood, attended the same church, school, and college.  John and I were even baptized in the same baptismal pool on the same day.  Guess you could say we are born anew twins.  We were probably together when we first became what our church’s covenant called “backsliders.”

One of the things that forever friends do is share memories. Just beginning a sentence with “remember when” can fill an entire evening. Sometimes we talk about our shared experiences of Church, the neighbors, the school, and college.  We were even suitemates in college for four years.  John often says, “Dennis, don’t you wish all of us guys could live together again like we did in college?”

I answer, “John, we can do that.  It’s called the Springmoor Retirement Community just up the street.”

John has long forgiven me (I hope) for filling his suitcase, the one he took on his honeymoon, with grits.  At least they weren’t cooked!  He even laughs about it now.  But I am not sure he has gotten over every single one of the dozens of practical jokes I (and a few accomplices) pulled on him.  I expect that someday in the not too distant future we might forget those and a lot more things, but let’s not go there right now.

For now, I am especially grateful for a forever friend with whom I can occasionally sit on my balcony of remembrance and talk about whatever I might not be able to remember alone.