A few days ago I got a call that went something like this, “Hello?”
“Is this
“Yes?”
“This is Richard Lacher.”
“No kiddin’! Where the hell are you?”
“I’m down the road from you in
Long story short, we agreed to meet at the Cracker Barrel in Harriman Tuesday evening and reminisce. So, we did just that!
The last time Richard and I saw each other was about 1964, just before I joined the Air Force. My cousin Mark and I (click for a flash back) drove from
After forty-four years we still hit it off and seemed to pick right up where we left off! I thoroughly enjoyed the couple of hours we spent setting on the front porch of the Cracker Barrel asking each other, “Do you remember…?” and “Didn’t we once…?” Man that felt so good!
There has hardly been an event in my life that I hadn’t wished Richard was there. When you have a close friend that you grew up with, you want them to experience everything you did and that’s just the way I’ve always felt. I suppose part of the reason I wrote all my “Laugh & Times” was in hopes that one day Richard would come along and get caught up on all I wished he had experienced with me!
I told him about “Mushy’s” and gave him one of my “Blogness Cards”, so hopefully he’ll soon be checking out all the great stories he was partly responsible for me writing. Posts like “Cuddles and Puddles”, “Ol’ Smiley Burnette Got the Drop on Me”, “Night Moves”, “My Hands Felt Just Like Two Balloons”, “Breaking Into the Outhouse”, “The Mockingbird”, and “A Scout is Friendly, Courteous, & Kind”.
Richard and I lived in the Mockingbird Trailer Park in Florence, Alabama together twice and in Waverly, Tennessee once over a span of about five or six years. He and I went through puberty together, so, as you can imagine, we analyzed everything, but we were definitely “working on mysteries without any clues!” These were probably the most important years of our teenage life, and it really hurt when our families finally had to go different directions.
Hopefully now Richard and I can relive the past years, catch up on the lost forty plus years, and even renew our friendship. We have a lot of catching up to do!
Thanks buddy for making the effort and taking the time to give me that call.
25 comments:
You have no idea how thrilled I am for you, Mushy! To finally find a dear old friend again and then reconnect like you'd never missed a beat is a joy and blessing beyond any. Bless you both - I hope you two have many, many years ahead to continue that bond!
That is terrific! There is nothing sweeter than rekindling an old friendship! :)
nothing like meeting old friends, I still remember the thrill of my 30th high school reunion, the 50th was a real hoot.....
Thanks Lin and Olga...I'm just beside myself with excitement!
Sarge - I'm actually meeting some old school friends this Friday night...can hardly wait...even the gal that branded me "Mushy" will be there! Stay tuned!
How cool is that?! I just got an email from someone I have not seen in almost 30 years. An old college friend. This is thanks to the Internet.
That's really magnificent, Mushy, that he made that call. 44 years? Man! It'll take you more than one sitdown to catch up on all that time!
Wow, how wonderful that you guys came full circle and are in each other's lives again. And how wonderful for you that he's working at a bar...LOL!
And according to your "time-line", that call came on a Monday. Who says Mondays' ALWAYS suck?
And that "bar-edge" might be to an advantage, indeed...!
That is so cool!!
That's great, Mushy!
First off guys, It ain't a drinkin' bar, it's a lake. If he ran a tavern I'd be seriously worried about our buddy Mushy. He Probably works at the dam. You explain dude.
And it's really wonderful that you've been able to reconnect with someone who was so important to your growin' up. I can't imagine hookin' up with the guys from that time in my life. Wouldn't know where to start lookin', or even if they'd want to hear from me. Time goes by, after all.
Enjoy every bit of it brother, and enjoy the next reunion too. We want details.
Jeff's right...it's Watts Bar Nuclear Plant...figured everyone would have at least remembered the lake we play on, but here is a link where Richard hopes to be an electrical inspector soon: http://www.tva.gov/power/nuclear/wattsbar.htm
Yeah, I don't need to be working in or near a bar...like it too much now!
A power plant?! Well, pooh. That's not nearly as much fun as working in a bar full o'liquor:)
Ya' reckon if they ever close down, ya' could MAKE it a REAL bar? WATTS BAR NUCLEAR---one helluva good name for an all-nighter "booze-bar"! Be a shame to see a good-sounding title like THAT go to waste.....!
Wow, that is just too awesome. Life throws curves but sometimes it let's you catch up.
Man how great is that. Isn't it funny that when you get together with long lost friends it seems after a few minutes that you were never apart in the first place. Savor the moment. I still get calls sometimes from old buds from my Air Force days, it it is a joy when I do.
My kinda post, my kinda friendship. Really struck a chord
That is a great story of a great friendship.
Ralph
Finding an old friend again is a special gift, congratulations! I hope you will see each other more often from now on. :-)
Thanks to David at Authorblog http://david-mcmahon.blogspot.com/
you guided me over here!
Thats awesome Mushy. I've come across some old friend online and now I've got to look 'em up!
Well this was a nice reunion. And you guys look like you are having a good time.
I had some buddies in Japan in the early 1950s and didn't think I would ever not be able to contact them. Well, after I left we lost contact with each other and we have never made contact again.
Thanks for the visit to my blog and for the comments you left there.
I can just imagine you two, 44 years ago... out on the town looking to score some tang and then swapping stud-muffin stories about it 44 years later...
That's so cool that you were able to connect after so long and it was like no time had passed. I always kind of wonder if people would think I was a stalker if I called them out of the blue, but I tend to over analyze things:)
Great one Mushy...kind of like this past weekend in the Michigan woods with two old college buddies, except we get together at least 2 times a year.....and no doubt tell our same old stories for the kids to roll their eyes at.
Becky...go for it! Life is short...the worst that can happen is they hang up on you and then you know there's nothing lost.
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