Missing a friend
My best friend (aside from my wife) that I've known for over half of my life (19 years) is moving this Thursday (Nov 30, 2006). He's been in the Air National Guard in Syracuse, NY for about 10 years now and has accepted a job in Sarasota, Florida. We've lived about 3 1/2 hours from each other for about 8 years now, but have visited each other every few months. His wife and 2 children have become very good friends to my wife and 3 children in this time.
Scott and I met in our 9th grade physics class. We'd "met" before then a handful of times, but never really spoke to each other. To be honest, we really didn't like each other. Of course, since we hadn't spoken, how were we to know what the other was really like. But in that physics class, we became friends. Scott had been a drummer in a band, I was a bass player in my own band. Our drummer was "removed" and we were in need of a placement, so we asked Scott to fill in while we searched. Scott was a great fit. He liked our music, so he quit his band and joined us permanently. I won't go into the band story in too much depth, but we enjoyed our fair share of success (in our eyes). But in our 2nd year of college, I was asked to leave the band, since I was attending college too far away to contribute the time that the rest of them wanted. So we grew apart. I continued my stay at college and went on to get a job in Seneca Falls, NY. Scott had "halted" his college career and enlisted in the US Air Force. He had stationed in a few different places and over a period of about 4-5 years, we had lost total contact with each other.
One night I recieved a call from Scott. It was great to hear from him. I'd learned that he was still in the Air Force outside of Phoenix, Arizona. He suggested that I take a trip out to visit.....so I did. We picked up our friendship where we left off. Things that were issues with us before seemed to disappear and forgotten. It was a great 5 days. After that trip, we stayed in contact quite often. While he was in AZ, he was in a motorcycle accident that broke his arm and leg on the left side of his body. He came to NY during this time so that his mother could assist him with his recovery. Since I had now moved back to Oswego (our home town), Scott and I did a lot together. Every weekend, I pick him up, throw his wheelchair in the trunk and we'd head for the Carrier Dome to see the Syracuse Orangemen (now the Syracuse Orange) lacrosse games. When it came time for him to return to AZ, we stayed in touch. During this time he got married, upon finishing his stint with the US Air Force, he joined the Air National Guard in Syracuse and moved back to Oswego with his new wife, Jen. From here, our friendship grew stronger.
We spent a lot more time doing various things together. Then I met my wife, a year later I got married and moved to Saugerties, NY. Like I stated earlier, we've had children and visited each other quite often since then. Though we didn't contact each other much in between visits, we've always understaood that our friendship is more than constant contact. We don't need to know each others every move to pick up were we left off at the previous visit. It's just always been that way with us. We'd see each other, have a great time, leave....and pick right back up on the visit. No questions of why we haven't called...etc, etc. We have families now, we understand each other.
During this past Thanksgiving break we visited them, got to say our goodbyes and made our "plans" to make trips to see each other. My wife and I are buying a house right now and we know it's going to be quite a while before we'll be able to make a trip to Florida with our 3 boys to visit them. It'll be some time, before we see other again. I'm going to miss my friend tremendously. I love Scott like a brother. But I know that when we do get together again that we'll pick up where left off.
Back 
Nov 27, 2006
Hey Bob - I know exactly how it feels. When we (my wife Dee and I) relocated in 2001 to our 'new' community (new for the past 5 years), we left John and Connie, our closest friends behind... a couple we went through high school with. 38 years ago John and I started out in our first band, he on bass and I on keyboards, which lasted till the late 70s when we stopped to raise our families and pay mortgages, etc. We started in a new band together with an old drummer from our past and a couple of 'new' guitarists in early 1998 and continued until I left in late 2001. It was the best band experience of our lives, and I truly miss that. But, we visit with them once a year and they at least once or twice a year with us on their way 'south' to visit their daughter and her family. And you know... John and I get into my music room and we're picking up where we left off on the last visit. Close friendships are lasting ones.