OLD FRIENDS NEVER GROW OLD

I have been lucky to have many friends over the years, Friday night for two hours became a laugh fest with Mike Saporito of Tennessee & Rick Baker of Buckeye Lake (recently elected Village Mayor). Both are in the banking industry, Mike was in town for his father's funeral.

Mike & I shared a townhouse apartment owned by Mrs. Emerson Miller on W. Main Street for a while. When we vacated the townhouse, Mike moved into Rick's home on Mt. Vernon Road. I can not remember the last time the three of us were together. Our discussion was typical guy talk with a head shaking once in a while from Mike's lovely wife Vicki.

At the end of two hours, we had discussed family, careers, cars (Mike lost two park cars to DUI drivers on Mt. Vernon Rd in one year) , health, divorce (Mike & Rick), marriage (Mike & I), parents (felt special with the only surviving parent) , hunting, fishing, boating, golf (Mike), old girlfriends (no names), age (we are within three years), new girlfriends (Rick's), homes, politics (Rick's recent win), children (Rick had photos), seventy is not old, grandchildren (Mike's) and talked about other long time friends.

We initially met because of our membership 30 plus years ago in the Newark Area Jaycees. The Jaycees at that time was an avenue to volunteer to make Licking County a better place, learn skills to advance our careers and to socialize. Friday night's conversation was not any different than 30+ years ago, but at 9:15pm we decided it was time to go home instead of midnight as we would have years ago.