If friends are a blessing (and this point is not actually up for debate), how much more of a blessing are friends who are friends with your friends?
I have known Island Mike since junior high school, and we have remained friends and confidants throughout the years, despite running in drastically different social circles in high school, and despite not having lived in the same area code since 1993. We were best men at each other's weddings and despite only connecting sporadically, his wife and children feel like family to me.
And in my local friends group, the usual G&G and Geekquinox suspects, at least three other couples have been out to visit Mike and Kelly on the island over the years.
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| At the Riverhawks game Friday night |
With the two of them in town for a family wedding, I offered up our place for a get-together pot luck and smoked a brisket, thinking that at some point maybe the lads could sneak off for a board game or some such while the ladies chatted - but the gaming never started because the chatting never stopped.
People came and people went (with commitments of their own), literal bread was broken and libations shared, and the patio table remained occupied for about eight hours, from half past two to half past ten. Peak attendance was around 11, with two regrets.
It was glorious.
There was no agenda, and at a couple points, smaller groups wandered off to visit the dog park with Canéla or tour the Crystal Palace, but the table was never abandoned throughout a third of the day.
We talked about everything and nothing, from family and health challenges to games and television. About our impending retirements (some sooner than others) and how we intended to spend our time, because we all agreed, as appealing as doing nothing might sound, Covid taught us all how unsatisfactory it can be in the long term. But I could have done nothing at that table, with those people, for a good while longer than I did.
These brief intersections are so precious, and the dynamics at work are so intriguing when the larger group gets together - the geometry quickly becomes ungraphable and you simply have to let it draw you in. I am so grateful that Glory was around to take part in it.
Because sitting here now and typing this at 11 pm with a work day looming and a dirty kitchen upstairs and an extracted molar giving me grief, and yes, maybe a few too many servings of reposado on a school night that I may find regrettable tomorrow morning - I still feel like the luckiest man on Earth.
Thank you, friends!
