There we were. Six of us.
"I went to kindergarten in the morning so I really didn't know you until 1st grade."
"Do you remember that one time in 2nd grade, we all got in trouble and were all lined up in the hall in front of (enter-principal's name here) office?"
"Yes, yes I do. I got on my hands and knees and crawled back into the room, got up in my chair, the teacher didn't notice."
"Remember all the trouble we got into at Odd Fellows? All those stairs, we had broken arms left and right."
"Yes, we sadly gave both our teacher and the PE teacher fits."
"What about Little League? Batting against (enter HUGE, fun loving, good hearted friend here)! Oh Lord, he was two times bigger than us, threw harder than Sandy Koufax and he had NO idea where the ball was gonna go!"
"That dude was hilarious. Talk about a lifetime of a good time. (Enter twelve favorite good hearted friend's LONG rhymes here, sorry, can't report them, they were kinda X-rated. OK, definitely X-rated. He had the tape "Truck Stop" memorized. Man I miss him, but I'll never forget that big ole smile."
"Remember climbing the rope in PE? It's a wonder no one got killed." "So-and-so almost did. We were having a race to see who could go up and ring the bell and come down fastest, I was way ahead of him so a few feet after he rang the bell he let go of the rope, dropped close to 20 feet, and landed with a huge thud! He was OK, but that guy was nutso."
We all met at 1pm for our friend's 69th Birthday party. His name will remain anonymous, but if the hint "He was late to his own birthday party" helps, so be it.
Tacos were the special (it was Tuesday.) So, we had tacos. A few beers.
"What about that time Mrs. (enter school administrator here) was in the office with (enter delinquent's name here) and the next day, she wore sunglasses all day to cover up her shiner?"
"Remember when so-and-so was gonna beat up the Shop Teacher!" "Yes, that was the time Mr. So-and-so told so-and-so to go straight to the office... he said 'I ain't gonna'.. so the teacher ran toward him.. so-and-so sprinted out the door.. we all ran over to the window and there was Mr. So-and-so chasing so-and-so and we lost him on the Horizon, he ran straight home." "Crazy." "Yup."
There were no arguments. Oh, there was disagreement on who was in the car that one time we soared across the Richfield Road bridge... or, "No, he lived up on Nashua... not out in the Country.. that was so-and-so. you know, his older brother ______, and his dad's name was _____...he worked at Ford forever."
Names, exact residence addresses, siblings, parents, teachers, folks that worked at the so-and-so, the names were occasionally jumbled, but between the six of us, we eventually pigeon holed exactly who we meant.
There was no uppity-ness. There was no "we hated him/her because he/she was in the grade ahead of us." Yes, we spoke of friends of all colors and it was all very loving. "Remember the basketball games at St. James?" "Yes, and I remember that time we played football behind Franklin school and I tackled (enter name of all state football running back here) and man I was sore for two weeks." "Oh man, he was such a great athlete. I saw him swing off a rope at Holly Lake and he did a 2 and a half flip like he was in the Olympics or something." "Yes, man I miss him too." "Good dude, FUN, funny."
We talked of Playboys taped onto the pull down maps in Social Studies in HS.. poo poo cushions on the teacher's chairs and the reactions (the best was when that one teacher couldn't stop laughing after it happened.) Of course we talked about pretty girls.. whatever happened to so-and-so came up time and again. Who the cheerleaders were or weren't our junior, senior years. Mildly surprised, I never heard the word hooters mentioned one time!
No one got out of control, but a few beers did turn into a couple three pitchers of Margaritas (hey, they were the Special for the day). Yes, we ate tacos. Smokers marched out to the patio a time or seven, sometimes even non-smokers followed just for the camaraderie and the outside air.
We spoke of crazy things we did. Bemoaned crazy things our children did (and do.) "Aren't you glad we didn't have social media, everyone having a camera back in our day?" Yes, very much so.
One 70, one soon to be. Most 69, one soon to be. We're lucky. There were way too many "Oh man, I miss her/him's."
It was a harmonious event. There was no bragging. No 'I can do (or did) anything better than you.' Our memories still basically intact (and if we didn't remember, we nodded and smiled like we did.)
Collectively, long-time marriages, a divorce or three. A full classroom of grandkids. One of us still working full-time, one part-time, most retired altogether. A couple of afflictions, I think three new hips, one new knee, no hearing aids that I saw. The theme, and it was actually said, "I know I'm old, but I don't think I'm old, or think like I'm old."
Someone also actually said "I think this is truly amazing, how long we've known each other and that we've remained close, good friends all these years. It's simply unheard of."
That. That's our State of the Union. Until next time that is, the Good Lord willing.
By Henry Gibson Forward by William Shake A Spear, Mr. Kotter and Mr. Rogers.
Love, Victurd
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