Sometime in the early Seventies instead of getting drafted by Uncle Sam I was drafted by this nutty group of young girls when we were still in high school. The recruiter pictured on the far left above, Chris, was sent out by the others to find someone that they could torture, take advantage of, and generally practice bossing around their future significant others. Knowing me from church, Chris said, "I have the perfect fool," and my life of moving between fear and love was set.
Oh, sure, at first they seemed harmless enough. Throwing themselves at me in an effort to get me disorientated and feeling like any normal teenage boy would feel, "Hey girls actually like me!" Oh, but it was all a ruse to lock me in their claws and use me like they wanted. "Come pick us up and take us to - insert any number of places here " was a familiar phone call I would get. "We're meeting at Jane's tonight bring beer and Boone's Farm" Another favorite phone call I would get.
They loved to dance, play games, talk about things a young boy should not be hearing, and generally have a good time. I was their literal vehicle for their fun. Have you ever been a teenage boy surrounded by teenage girls in bikini's and not be noticed? Well, in fairness they weren't the only teenage girls ignoring me.
Anyway, moving this story back to its point.
Earlier this spring I agreed to return to my Midwest roots and gather for a reunion of sorts with these brazen hussies, alone. Well, Nancy's husband Randy was there but he also was from our group back in the day after Nancy roped him in and it seemed unfair to tell him to stay away from his own house.
We gathered to celebrate the fact that we all were still vertical at Seventy years of age in 2024. Maybe a bit longer in the tooth and grayer with a few more aches and pains but honestly all still in pretty good condition. We laughed, lied, drank, ate, and enjoyed each others company like friends from childhood only can.
Why is it that people you have known since before you were shaving can not see each other for thirty plus years and not miss a beat like you just saw each other three hours ago? I guess they really were the formative years like Wonder bread kept telling us.
For me it was nice to be a part of their celebration and I say theirs and not ours because this is really a story of how these girls, now women, have worked hard to stay friends for all these years. People change, they get married, have families of their own, and time gets away from us all but they have managed to figure out a way to make sure they always keep in touch and remain in each others lives and that is the story of this past week.
It was fun to catch up with them and remember times in our lives when things were not so complicated and worrisome. We were able to laugh the laugh of those unburdened by life yet to come and life already lived. You don't reach Seventy without losing people in your personal life and we were all no different than you in that respect. The fact that we all knew those people too made it more melancholy to remember them but it was more happy memories than sad.
These goofs were a more important part of my growing up than I would normally admit but I will share with you what I shared with them. Hanging around with them made me a better man and husband than anything else I could possibly imagine. I learned what girls liked, hated, and most importantly how to treat them with the respect they deserved. It was invaluable in my personal life and in my business life and I thank them for their candor and way too much information when we were younger.
These are special ladies and I'm proud to call them my very special friends. I still am afraid of them, but I love them all a ton.
(In order of our picture bottom middle)
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