The More Things Change The More The Stay the Same
Last year I got a message on Facebook from someone I hadn't seen in over 30 years. Apparently he had just joined Facebook because his sister told him it was a good way to find old friends. So, I was the second old friend that he had found according to his message. I wrote him back and he said that he had never forgotten me in over 30 years. I felt surprised and flattered. I don't know why I felt flattered but I just did.
When I was a senior in high school I lived in a small city which was more like a small town. It had a small town atmosphere back then. This friend lived around the corner from me. He was 21 and I was 17. Around the corner from my house at that time was a little corner store and behind the corner store were apartments that you would miss if you weren't looking for them. Right there on the bottom floor is where my friend, "D" lived. I thought that he probably lived with someone but he never confirmed or denied it at the time so I just took it as a yes he did and didn't want to tell me. So, every now and then I would see him at the corner store or the gas station, which was also a mini market, we would exchange hello's and how are you doing chit chat and that was about it for over a year. Once he gave me a ride home from school. Or a ride home from the bus stop that was near my school. He was passing by and offered to give me a ride. We talked about the neighborhood, the neighbors, and about his job working in a factory about 5 miles from where we lived. It wasn't a long conversation because it only took about 10 minutes to get home and that was that. I didn't see him again for probably another 2 weeks.
"D" was the type of man that you really couldn't miss. He was tall, dark, and really thin. Always had his hair in a jerhi curl back then and his hair always looked like it was wet, dripping wet. It probably was. He always smelled good, like old spice cologne and had a big smile. He was always smoking a cigarette or going to the store to get a pack hence our encounters at the corner store and the mini market. Most of the time when I saw him there he was buying cigarettes or some sort of junk food.
My mom really didn't care for him in spite of the fact that I told her we were just friends. Once he walked me home from the store around the corner and my mom was outside and I introduced him to her and she really didn't say anything. She just nodded her head and went back inside and ten minutes later she called me inside too. Once I got back inside the house she gave me the third, fourth and fifth degree about him. I told her what I knew. And she seemed happy with that.
So, when I happened to run into "D" two weeks after the ride home from school he told me that he was moving in a month to Los Angeles. He wanted to stay in touch and so he asked for my phone number so I gave it to him. I knew he had gone when I went to the corner store and saw the apartment for rent sign in front of the building he used to live in. He never told me exactly when moved and I didn't hear from him until after my first year of college. We talked on the phone and he told me all about his move and about how he was getting married and going back to school. Shortly after our conversation ended I got another call, this call from his future wife. She yelled at me for talking to him and told me that she didn't want us talking anymore. I was only 19 so I didn't exactly know what to say to her so I just hung up hoping she would not call again. She didn't. Neither did he for another two years. By then he was divorced and looking for his next wife in South Carolina where he had relocated.
For years we talked on the phone every now and then and exchanged a few letters but over time the calls and the letters stopped. I had just assumed that he had gotten married again and was living his life in martial bliss.
Until last year when I got the Facebook message. It seemed he had been living in martial bliss for 20 years married had one son who was 19 and now he was divorced again and going back to school while looking for another wife.
Sometimes things never change with some people. With him the only thing that had changed besides his wives was his age. Well, I wished him luck with finding his next wife and school. It has been a year since I heard from him last so I am assuming he has found something or someone. Guess I will know in the next 20 or 30 years.
When I was a senior in high school I lived in a small city which was more like a small town. It had a small town atmosphere back then. This friend lived around the corner from me. He was 21 and I was 17. Around the corner from my house at that time was a little corner store and behind the corner store were apartments that you would miss if you weren't looking for them. Right there on the bottom floor is where my friend, "D" lived. I thought that he probably lived with someone but he never confirmed or denied it at the time so I just took it as a yes he did and didn't want to tell me. So, every now and then I would see him at the corner store or the gas station, which was also a mini market, we would exchange hello's and how are you doing chit chat and that was about it for over a year. Once he gave me a ride home from school. Or a ride home from the bus stop that was near my school. He was passing by and offered to give me a ride. We talked about the neighborhood, the neighbors, and about his job working in a factory about 5 miles from where we lived. It wasn't a long conversation because it only took about 10 minutes to get home and that was that. I didn't see him again for probably another 2 weeks.
"D" was the type of man that you really couldn't miss. He was tall, dark, and really thin. Always had his hair in a jerhi curl back then and his hair always looked like it was wet, dripping wet. It probably was. He always smelled good, like old spice cologne and had a big smile. He was always smoking a cigarette or going to the store to get a pack hence our encounters at the corner store and the mini market. Most of the time when I saw him there he was buying cigarettes or some sort of junk food.
My mom really didn't care for him in spite of the fact that I told her we were just friends. Once he walked me home from the store around the corner and my mom was outside and I introduced him to her and she really didn't say anything. She just nodded her head and went back inside and ten minutes later she called me inside too. Once I got back inside the house she gave me the third, fourth and fifth degree about him. I told her what I knew. And she seemed happy with that.
So, when I happened to run into "D" two weeks after the ride home from school he told me that he was moving in a month to Los Angeles. He wanted to stay in touch and so he asked for my phone number so I gave it to him. I knew he had gone when I went to the corner store and saw the apartment for rent sign in front of the building he used to live in. He never told me exactly when moved and I didn't hear from him until after my first year of college. We talked on the phone and he told me all about his move and about how he was getting married and going back to school. Shortly after our conversation ended I got another call, this call from his future wife. She yelled at me for talking to him and told me that she didn't want us talking anymore. I was only 19 so I didn't exactly know what to say to her so I just hung up hoping she would not call again. She didn't. Neither did he for another two years. By then he was divorced and looking for his next wife in South Carolina where he had relocated.
For years we talked on the phone every now and then and exchanged a few letters but over time the calls and the letters stopped. I had just assumed that he had gotten married again and was living his life in martial bliss.
Until last year when I got the Facebook message. It seemed he had been living in martial bliss for 20 years married had one son who was 19 and now he was divorced again and going back to school while looking for another wife.
Sometimes things never change with some people. With him the only thing that had changed besides his wives was his age. Well, I wished him luck with finding his next wife and school. It has been a year since I heard from him last so I am assuming he has found something or someone. Guess I will know in the next 20 or 30 years.
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