Don't you hate that fucking song "Seasons in the Sun?"

Okay, I don't know exactly how to begin, so I'm just going to... well, begin. I'm going to get all warm and fuzzy on you guys tonight, so if that's not your gig, not your scene, not what gets your wizzy woo off, skip it. This is one just for me. This one's something I need to write for the simple fact of a simple pleasure. And if you don't give a fuck about me personally, if you only come to the show for the bitching and ranting (and I'm not complaining, I'm just happy you show up at all!), then you'll just have to wait until the next post. But if you've ever lost touch with someone that reminds you of who you were, and how far you've come, or how far you still need to go... read on. You are, as always, welcome to come along.

I'm a Facebook guy. I have a few friends there, ones that I genuinely give a shit about. I may not always send a message asking how they are, but I always remember their birthdays! (Here's a big old *wink nudge* for those of you on FB who also never forget a birthday...) I seek out people I know, people I've met on other sites, and people I've lost touch with over the years. I've reconnected with old girlfriends, old I-wish-they'd-been-my-girlfriends, and old high school buddies. It's a lot of fun catching up. But tonight was different. Tonight was special. Tonight I reconnected with a guy I haven't seen in fifteen years. Before that, I hadn't seen him in ten, when he told me he was moving to West Virginia, which was about to get a whole lot more wild. And certainly more wonderful.

I was a sheltered kid growing up. Always reading, always got the good grades, didn't listen to any music my parents didn't own. But then I met a guy who showed me what being a kid was all about. He introduced me to football, and pick-up games of baseball, and basketball. We smoked our first cigarettes together, and we cut our first classes together (oh, shut the fuck up, we were kids; and all kids, even yours, try stupid shit!). We stole his brother's car and took our first joyride. We saw Star Wars and Indiana Jones in the theater first, not DVD. We sat in awe of his grandmother's car that spoke to us (a Chrysler New Yorker that said "the door is ajar, the door is ajar"), before there was GPS. We watched the first video on MTV, before there were no videos on MTV. We were going to grow up to be sports stars, and comic book artists, and we were going to be rich and marry Tina if she quit being such a bitch, or Debbie if she lost the glasses, or Joan because she had a trampoline. We were best friends, and we were always going to be best friends. Then, life happened.

He left for WVA and we lost touch. By the time I saw him again, I was already dating after my divorce. He had his wife and baby girl with him. We spent maybe an hour catching up before he left. I haven't seen or heard from him since.

I looked him up on google tonight. It showed his name on Facebook. Now, I'd looked him up on FB months ago, but he wasn't there, so I figured it wasn't him. But, when I pulled the page up, it WAS him. I immediately sent him a friend request, and he approved it less than three minutes later. I wrote this on his wall: "You still look like a smarta$$! *L* How are you, my friend?!" He sent me his phone number, and we talked for so long his phone died. (Fuck you, man, mine's still working... so it was either that or you hung up on me; I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt!) We talked about... life. That's really all you need to know. We've both had our ups and downs, like the rest of you. We've been knocked down and fucked around and stepped in our fair share of shit. We've grown. But tonight, we got to revisit a bit, just a tiny bit, of our youth. Talking to JC, I wasn't a guy with two kids I miss constantly, and back child support to pay, and arthritis so bad I'm on medical leave from my job. Talking to Jake tonight, I was just a kid hanging out with my best friend again. The hair's not as long, the knees don't work as well, and flag football's well beyond me. But I never knew how fresh and sweet and... kind, a memory could be. Yes, that word feels exactly right: kind.

Thank you, Jake. I love you, my friend. See you in two weeks.