Thumper
06-23-2014, 04:20 PM
When I was young, there were four of us who were very close friends and ALWAYS together. We all grew up in the same neighborhood and were sometimes referred to as "The Four Muskateers". ;)
One of my friends practically lived with us as he had an abusive alcoholic for a father who would come home drunk EVERY night and ... well, it was never a pretty picture. His mom was a total angel and was the only person on earth who could control the old man, but she came down with cancer and passed away when my buddy was about 10-12 years old. On her death bed, she asked my mom if she would please take care of her son. From that point forward, he became my "brother", moved in permanently and all ties to his dad were severed. Heck, his dad never even bothered to come looking for him. Anyway, through the years, we always introduced each other as "My brother so-and-so ..." as it was MUCH easier than explaining the situation to everyone we encountered through life. We never officially adopted him, but my mom and dad were always "Mom & Dad" to him and all my siblings (counting him, we had 6 kids in the family) were all his brothers and sisters.
I had another buddy who I knew even before my "brother" moved into the neighborhood. We moved out of state when I was 15 and we wrote a few times, but high school came into our lives and we grew apart over the years. The fourth member of "The Four Muskateers" was another neighborhood buddy we grew up with. Cub Scouts, Weblos, Boy Scouts and Explorers ... we went through all of them. Of course, we could talk for days about all the crazy stuff we got into, but it was all good clean fun ... especially by today's standards.
Well, one buddy grew up to be a preacher (who'd a'thunk it?). I located him years ago and he even came out to Los Angeles to visit once. Once I moved back to Florida, we stayed in touch and got together for old times sake every so often. He had a stroke a few years ago and could no longer drive, so he took up riding a bicycle everywhere he wanted to go ... if he didn't have a ride (he was single/divorced). A few years back, he was riding his bike, was struck by a car and killed.
But the one buddy I was closest to (besides my "brother") had disappeared and nobody knew where he'd gotten off to. Once computers were the rage, I searched for him, but his last name is WILSON! Do you have ANY idea how many Wilsons there are in the world. He was the only son ...but had 3 sisters ... of course they'd all married and changed names, so I had no way of locating them either. A while back, I was digging around and found him on the net. I won't go in to that story as this post will be long enough already, but let's just say it was a total fluke that I found him! We emailed and even though neither one of us lives in Orlando anymore (where we grew up), we live 15 minutes from each other! Like me, he's lived all over the country (Georgia, Kentucky, California) but returned to Florida and moved to his present residence 16 years ago! I bought this place 25 years ago ... so for the past 16 years, we've been neighbors! We shop at the same grocery store. He's passed within 1/2 block of my house a bazillion times over the years (I live off the main road from his place to most shopping ... Walmart, Home Depot, The Mall, etc etc etc) ... but we both admitted, we could have been shopping side by side and never recognized one another (haven't seen each other since 1967!).
Ok, my "brother" informed me he'd be in town this weekend on business, so I planned a surprise reunion at my mom's house. (my mom didn't know I'd located him either). We hooked up, went to my moms and I introduced him to my mom and "brother" as an "old friend" and used his middle name. It was really a fun time, but I finally couldn't take it any longer and spilled the beans. THAT'S when things got crazy ... the OLD stories/memories started flowing (most of which my mom had never heard of course) and we really had a great time! It just so happens he retired 6 weeks ago and decided he'd had to shave all his live, so he's decided to go "mountain man" for a while just because ... well ... because he CAN! So he's a bit scruffy looking, but it truly seemed like nothing has changed and we were all 12-14 years old again (we've all known each other since we were 6) for most of the day! It's easy to figure the players here ... I'm the fat guy in the center with "Mountain Man" on my right and my "brother" on the left. I'm the youngest .. 6 mos. younger than my "brother" and 3 mos. younger than "Mountain Man". With my bad back, I can't stand up straight, so I'm now the "short-shit" in the group (a position my "brother" used to hold). :(
3151
What a GREAT weekend ... we never ran out of stories to tell (and my mom's hair is a LOT grayer now)! ;)
On a sadder note as well as an eerie coincidence ... my brother brought me a coffee mug made with an old pic he'd dug up of himself, our preacher friend (who's passed) and myself. None of us remember this pic ... since "Mountain Man" isn't in the shot ... there's a good chance HE'S the one who took it. Man-o-man, we look like little kids ... but it seems like just yesterday.
(my "brother" on the left, Preacher Man in the center ... and myself. As for the last shot ... it appears I took posing lessons from Cappy. I'm not smiling (none of us are actually) and who knows WTF I'm looking at!!?? :D
3152 3153
One of my friends practically lived with us as he had an abusive alcoholic for a father who would come home drunk EVERY night and ... well, it was never a pretty picture. His mom was a total angel and was the only person on earth who could control the old man, but she came down with cancer and passed away when my buddy was about 10-12 years old. On her death bed, she asked my mom if she would please take care of her son. From that point forward, he became my "brother", moved in permanently and all ties to his dad were severed. Heck, his dad never even bothered to come looking for him. Anyway, through the years, we always introduced each other as "My brother so-and-so ..." as it was MUCH easier than explaining the situation to everyone we encountered through life. We never officially adopted him, but my mom and dad were always "Mom & Dad" to him and all my siblings (counting him, we had 6 kids in the family) were all his brothers and sisters.
I had another buddy who I knew even before my "brother" moved into the neighborhood. We moved out of state when I was 15 and we wrote a few times, but high school came into our lives and we grew apart over the years. The fourth member of "The Four Muskateers" was another neighborhood buddy we grew up with. Cub Scouts, Weblos, Boy Scouts and Explorers ... we went through all of them. Of course, we could talk for days about all the crazy stuff we got into, but it was all good clean fun ... especially by today's standards.
Well, one buddy grew up to be a preacher (who'd a'thunk it?). I located him years ago and he even came out to Los Angeles to visit once. Once I moved back to Florida, we stayed in touch and got together for old times sake every so often. He had a stroke a few years ago and could no longer drive, so he took up riding a bicycle everywhere he wanted to go ... if he didn't have a ride (he was single/divorced). A few years back, he was riding his bike, was struck by a car and killed.
But the one buddy I was closest to (besides my "brother") had disappeared and nobody knew where he'd gotten off to. Once computers were the rage, I searched for him, but his last name is WILSON! Do you have ANY idea how many Wilsons there are in the world. He was the only son ...but had 3 sisters ... of course they'd all married and changed names, so I had no way of locating them either. A while back, I was digging around and found him on the net. I won't go in to that story as this post will be long enough already, but let's just say it was a total fluke that I found him! We emailed and even though neither one of us lives in Orlando anymore (where we grew up), we live 15 minutes from each other! Like me, he's lived all over the country (Georgia, Kentucky, California) but returned to Florida and moved to his present residence 16 years ago! I bought this place 25 years ago ... so for the past 16 years, we've been neighbors! We shop at the same grocery store. He's passed within 1/2 block of my house a bazillion times over the years (I live off the main road from his place to most shopping ... Walmart, Home Depot, The Mall, etc etc etc) ... but we both admitted, we could have been shopping side by side and never recognized one another (haven't seen each other since 1967!).
Ok, my "brother" informed me he'd be in town this weekend on business, so I planned a surprise reunion at my mom's house. (my mom didn't know I'd located him either). We hooked up, went to my moms and I introduced him to my mom and "brother" as an "old friend" and used his middle name. It was really a fun time, but I finally couldn't take it any longer and spilled the beans. THAT'S when things got crazy ... the OLD stories/memories started flowing (most of which my mom had never heard of course) and we really had a great time! It just so happens he retired 6 weeks ago and decided he'd had to shave all his live, so he's decided to go "mountain man" for a while just because ... well ... because he CAN! So he's a bit scruffy looking, but it truly seemed like nothing has changed and we were all 12-14 years old again (we've all known each other since we were 6) for most of the day! It's easy to figure the players here ... I'm the fat guy in the center with "Mountain Man" on my right and my "brother" on the left. I'm the youngest .. 6 mos. younger than my "brother" and 3 mos. younger than "Mountain Man". With my bad back, I can't stand up straight, so I'm now the "short-shit" in the group (a position my "brother" used to hold). :(
3151
What a GREAT weekend ... we never ran out of stories to tell (and my mom's hair is a LOT grayer now)! ;)
On a sadder note as well as an eerie coincidence ... my brother brought me a coffee mug made with an old pic he'd dug up of himself, our preacher friend (who's passed) and myself. None of us remember this pic ... since "Mountain Man" isn't in the shot ... there's a good chance HE'S the one who took it. Man-o-man, we look like little kids ... but it seems like just yesterday.
(my "brother" on the left, Preacher Man in the center ... and myself. As for the last shot ... it appears I took posing lessons from Cappy. I'm not smiling (none of us are actually) and who knows WTF I'm looking at!!?? :D
3152 3153