In June 1957 my family moved from St. Louis to Perrysburg, Ohio.  I was four years old, so my memory may be a little fuzzy on the exact date, but I am pretty sure that the morning after we arrived in our new home, there was a knock on the front door.  There stood a boy about my age with his older sister, and he asked “Do you have any boys I can play with?”  And thus began a friendship with BC that lasts to this day.

We shared all the usual stuff best friends do growing up; riding bikes, playing games, and even though we weren’t in the same classes in school, we hung out together when we were out of school.

As life went on, we stuck together even as his family went through some tough times, and in 1965 his family moved to Florida.  But we stayed in touch and when I was thirteen he invited me down for a visit over spring break.  It was my first trip to Florida and I was hooked.  I ended up going to college in Miami after another visit to him.

He joined the Navy, served at sea, went on to college after and started a very successful photography business.  He married a wonderful woman, raised two beautiful daughters and when we reconnected ten years ago after a long hiatus, it was like we had never been apart.  Yesterday we spent the day together remembering back to those days, telling stories, catching up, laughing, crying a little, and never forgetting that we’re both each one’s oldest friend.