Wednesday, August 22, 2001

Back from commercials and on with the tease story. Along with mother natures water torture on Saturday I had the pleasure of spying on a guy I grew up with. I say spying because it sounds better than “watching while desperately hoping he doesn’t see me”. The subject of my surveillance is one of the second friends I made after we came to Illinois. This should help those in the know figure it out without using a name. Back on track, after I confirmed the subject’s identity I considered walking up to say hi. I immediately flashed to the last time I ran into him at a bar 6 years ago and dropped that idea immediately. It turns out that I was part of the reason that his life didn’t turn out quite the way he wanted. Now, I’m a big fan of making contact with the past. I actually joined that classmate’s thing because so many people kept dropping in on me that I decided to join in the fun. I’ve floated 6 what’s ups out there and have talked to 2. Not bad for catching up with people you haven’t spoken with for 18+ years. OK, I end up realizing exactly who this person is by his mannerisms from about 60 yards away. It has been forever since we were close but I think it was Steven King in Stand By Me who wrote about never really have friends again like the ones when you 10. Maybe it is because at that stage in our lives our friends are our worlds. I became caught up in 26-year-old memories and did not want to have it ruined by an awkward “hey, how’s it going”. If we could have just sat down and played penny-ante poker as a warm-up; but I didn’t feel like feeling bad about losing touch. It’s weird the stories you remember when you’re completely bored and spying on someone. This kid and I once lit an entire field on fire trying to burn a baseball field into it. I still remember burying the new jacket he ruined in another field so his mom would never find out. There were a couple of hundred more but this will get old quick. The best thing about this spy mission was the fact that for the first time in the twenty plus years of bumping into him he looked happy. 12:00:00 AM    says you