I can pinpoint mine. It was the first day of grade seven and I was starting at a new school after recently moving into the area. I was wearing an AC-DC concert t-shirt, a black corduroy jacket and blue jeans. My hair, the white man afro, was reaching for the blue September sky and my thumbs were hooked on the front two belt loops. My head was appropriately cocked.
Three boys approached me just as the first bell of the first day of school was about to begin. I was nervous, but trying desperately to remain not just cool, but super cool.
“Hey man, nice shirt” The short Italian boy in the middle said as he approached. And that was that. Ice was cracked with a shared love of an Australian hard rock band and we became fast friends. A month after that, my miniature Italian friend introduced me to a gangly, gap toothed odd duck that shared my love of basketball.
These two boys quickly became my best friends. 31 years later I still see them once a week at a regular pick up basketball game downtown. Just last year, Tony got married and I was lucky enough to be chosen as his best man. Andrew looked after my dog for a year while we were away. We are all very tight and I know I am blessed to have these relationships in my life.
So where was I going with this? Ahh yes, parenting. Hud randomly met Sam about four years when he was five. It was a combined play date with a mutual friend who has since moved away. These two blonde boys attend different schools, but due to friendly and diligent caregivers, they manage to see each other at least once a week. They both sprouted from toothy goofy boys to the teetering precipitous cliff of tweendom and Steph and I couldn’t be happier.
This past weekend Sam slept over and the next day, we headed down to the Hockey Hall of Fame to kick off their March Break in style. We let them camp out in a tent in our basement and stay up super late. We took the subway down and I let them sit a bit down the car to provide them with the illusion of sans parents travel.
Subway buddies:
I could hear them laughing and giggling at the subway lingerie ads and other silly innuendo that I never noticed before. They are both very similar, in sentiment and style. Preferring the sciencey type stuff in life as opposed to the sporty (they each knew about four hockey players prior to this outing).
In front of the Wayne Gretzky 802nd goal tribute:
Sam is a bit more innocent, so he looks to Hud sometimes to insert the salacious gaps. I don’t mind. I trust the advice and information he may be offering. They will figure it out.
I love that I am witnessing this friendship. They realized this weekend that as long as we stay in the same area, they will likely attend the same high school. This pleased them as however far away, they both found comfort in the fact their will be a compadre waiting to help them over the grade nine hump.
With Lord Stanley:
I am very fortunate to have a group of eight people I have known for over 25 years that I still see at least once a month. I hope both of my boys are able to find the same thing. I rely on the consistency of these friendships and without them, I would be less of the person I am today.
Hey man, nice blog. I was smiling throughout the read. I couldn’t agree with you more. I am very happy that Sam has such a good friend in Hud. Thanks for writing this Jason.
Love that story! And the love the long term friendships!