Where the Rubber Meets the Road

San Diego's UPI Office at Jack Murphy Stadium 1980-ish

I realize that some people thrive on Melodramatics but I don't have the knack for it, and yet, in looking back at my postings over the past year I was amazed to see emotive tinges woven through my words. Maybe its age? Anyhow, for that I must apologize, I will try to keep the carbonated dross of our lives from overflowing onto this blog.
We will give you something sweeter to eat today and step back a few decades to give some space to friends that have put up with my rough edges.
This past year some crazy pictures have been sent to me from a friend of almost 30 years...they are not flattering, but given the grief I have put you through this last month...I deserve the humiliation.
Over the years we all go through phases of friends and relationships, some friendships feel like they have some depth but are really just based on the commonalities of the season. At the surface it may even appear to be a best-type-of-friendship until one day you look back and realize that you have simply drifted apart and all parties are now relegated to the "Christmas Card List".
Working Mid-Town Division 1990-ish

Other friends don't have quite the depth of those above but the friendship is long term, maybe even lifelong. You aren't connected in the day to day, or maybe even week to week events...but you are friends nonetheless. Those are the friends you see at the mall or annual events and enjoy catching up with--but still you keep the relationship compartmentalized and maybe for no real reason, you don't grow too close.
Then there are a few, a very few, who last for the ages. I can think of several at the moment who we find, due to distance, schedules or other factors impossible to be involved with in the day to day shards of each others lives...but when we hook up, its like the distance and season between us had never existed. We simply fall into step as if we had been inseparable our whole lives. Those are the friendships that are melted into the place where the rubber meets the road.
This last week I have heard voices...from my past. Some from Ohio, some from SoCal and Oregon and another from Kyrgyzstan that have reminded me that I have friends, kindred spirits, who have my back covered. Who can whine about the small stuff when you have friends like these? Sorry for bringing you down this week. After stepping back to see the forest I have to say that in spite of the little things this week life is pretty sweet when you look at it from our corner of Asia.