Are you still close to your best friend from childhood?
Do you stay in touch?

Yesterday, was my best friend’s (from childhood) birthday.

Image from:
Wikipedia

We lost touch with each other shortly after high school.  We both went in different directions.  Even though we lived at opposite ends of Connecticut, we were able to maintain our solid friendship all through childhood.  We were so close that we told people we were brothers.  I still remember the day we became “brothers.”
August 17, 1973

I was at Joe’s Aunt and Uncle’s just down the street from my grandparents in Lisbon Connecticut on Graham Terrace, when I discovered that my paternal grandmother had transitioned.  When I told Joe what had happened he said:
We are all brothers in God’s eyes and I feel your pain as if it is was my own.

I was fortunate to have Joe in my life as he became my rock.  My childhood wasn’t easy and Joe became my confidant.  When we grew up we dreamt of buying a farm down the street from us on Blissville Road in Lisbon, Connecticut.  In fact we grabbed John Cougar Mellancamp’s song Little Pink Houses and changed the title:
Little Grey Farms.

The outbuildings on this particular farm were all grey.  When we heard the song we always sang it with OUR title.  Joe and I never dreamed we’d lose touch with each other when we grew up, but I imagine ALL friends feel the same. Sometimes we take the time we have with our friends for granted, thinking we will ALWAYS be friends.  Unfortunately, sometimes life gets in the way.  Friends move on.  Joe and I attempted to reconnect several years ago but time passed us by and we were two completely different people at the time than we were when we were friends.  The ONE good thing about our disconnection is that it was a natural event.  There was no conflict that ended our friendship.  We just grew apart.

Still kind of sad knowing how close we were as children.  But people come and go from our lives for specific reasons. I understand that now.  Joe came into my life when I needed him.  Once I grew beyond my need for him, he left my life. A door closed and a window opens ALL the time!  You simply have to know where that window opens.

Through that window crawled my friend, Jason in 1989.

October 16 always leaves me feeling very nostalgic and I can’t help but remember how many years Joe and I were friends.  I have a picture of us when we are less than two years old playing together in a playpen.  For almost twenty five years we were inseparable so you can certainly understand my nostalgia.  I’ve been blessed in my life to have had friends who mean the world to me and I feel grateful to report that my friend Jason and I are still close and he is the longest tenured friend I have.  I’ve had three friends in my life who have been like family and each one of them will always be my friend even if one of them has moved on.

October 16 will always be an important day in my life, a day of remembrance, a day of nostalgia.  It won’t EVER be just another day.  Joe will be important to me forever and he is the first friend I’ve EVER had and for that reason alone, Joe will always hold a special place in my heart.

Anyone else have a similar story?  I’d love to hear it in the comments.

Be Happy!  Be Well!  Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
—
Chris

Once you realize that life is eternal,
That our souls our eternal,

That we return to light and physical over and over;
We then lose all our distress
We then lose all our fear of dying.  For there truly is no end.