Welcome my After Midnight Friends. It is an odd hour but I feel the urge to write this post. I met a friend today I hadn’t seen in many months it was a brief but good meeting and we will hopefully see each other again soon. One of my best friends recently moved away I had him over for dinner a month ago before he left the area and moved to Brooklyn. Good friends are hard to find and very hard to lose. I have lost three best friends over the last 15 years who have past away and three others who moved hundreds of miles away and left the state. True friendship is a rare priviledge to have in our lifetime. My best childhood friend and later highschool friend Rick past away three years ago. I hadn’t seen him in many years as we lived over 500 miles apart, but his passing left a sadness in me. We got in so much trouble together as elementary school detention became our second home. Back in the sixties schools were much more physically disaplined. Yes, some teachers used yard sticks to slap against our heads or threaten us against our desks. One put a pointer to my throat and threatened to send me to the hospital. Today they would be arrested and sued but back then we suffered physical and mental abuse by some of our male teachers. Rick and I were notorious in our 5th and 6th grade classrooms. We had good grades and were promoted but Mr. Dubois our math teacher considered us delinquents even though we passed his class. Thankfully Rick and I in 5th grade passed an IQ test with smarter than average IQs and were transfered to another school which was taught by nuns. Yes a school on the other side of town with a more difficult curriculum.
Rick and I were overwhelmed at being taught by strick disiplinarian Catholic Nuns. Our six grade teacher Sister St. John insured that Rick and I stayed after school with her in detention at least once or twice a week. We would have to write out dictionary definitions on the large chalkboard. Sister St. John also coached the boys soccar team. She was a real trip. She must have a special place in Heaven for dealing effectively with 2 delinquent boys who were allowed to graduated sixth grade. One of my favorite memories of Rick and I was when Rick invited every girl in the sixth grade class to his birthday party at his home. He had a great finished rec room basement and set up a stereo . I didn’t realize it at the time until the day of the party that I was the only boy he invited. He and I were the only boys with 20 girls in our class who were all dressed in party dresses and ready to have fun and we danced with every girl and everyone had fun. Time and life leave great friends behind. We move on, marry, work and live but we seldom forget our best friends living or passed on. Be well my After Midnight Friends and cherish all your best friends and memories of them. They were placed in your life for a reason to help you through some time in your lives.
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