Thursday, March 31, 2016

A Friend

Most people believe that they have friends. Most of the people believe that they are a friend to several  acquaintances. I have several friends or used to have several friends. As I age the number diminished to a very few. Today I lost a dear friend who has been close for around seventy years. Alex { Chuck Brown } passed away after being sick for a time.

We were boys when the most important thing was preparing for our fishing  trip on the weekend. We used bicycle power to take ourselves out of town to country streams to catch speckled trout. We knew every stream that was home to these tasty little fish within 15 miles of our home. Preparation was really quite simple. Peanut butter sandwiches, a fruit and a bottle of Pepsi made up our lunch and a can of worms for bait and we were off for Mill Pond or McKenzie's  early Saturday mornings during the spring and summer.

We just hung out together at first but later we attended Teachers College and roomed together. We bonded in so many ways. Sports and activities became our spare time routine and then the girlfriends. Our fore some became blended into a friendship that was absolutely wonderful. We got along and rarely argued. We did have one obsession and that was our marathon crib games. Every noon after lunch we would play a few games of crib. We used to record the winner and believe it or not we got into numbers way over a thousand . We used to have a bet on who would be the winner after the first day after graduation. It never happened.
 During the summer months after graduation Chuck and I became dancing fools. In Cape Breton there were dances somewhere every night of the week. Somewhere. With Dad's half ton we traveled the country roads to find a square dance or go to the Venetian Gardens in Sydney on Saturday Night. The cost was a dollar and was steep but we loved to dance and it was the best. Gib Whitney and his orchestra were the best and we got to know a few girls from there and it was fun.

Our friendship was such that we talked about everything. We had similar fathers who loved to fish and we discussed their work as miners. Alex got to go down in #3 pit for some weeks in the summer  but I only had the opportunity for one week. We really appreciated our dad's after that. Summer went bye quickly and soon we were to be separated as I traveled to Quebec for employment.

During the next fifty years we made our own lives getting opportunities to meet during the summer and feeling as we had never been apart. After we retired I used to stop at Alex and Marge's summer home every time Theresa and I passed their place.Life was sweet and we became childhood friends again reliving the past and loving our time together.

Chuck became sick about a year ago and it really caused me great stress because I knew he was not long for this world. I became a closer friend to Marge as I wanted to cling to the part of our friendship that would continue. As I got the daily reports from Marge I realized just what I was losing. A lifelong Friend that could not be replaced. I have lost many of my close friends as of late and I do not like it. Chuck was special because he was from the old school and he crept into my brain and wouldn't let go. Chuck
was far from perfect but for me he was just right....he was my friend.











Good FridayParty For the Brown's and Friends

Lynda invited some of her friends and family for dinner and was surprised that the whole gang were free to come. Only Dar and Mitch were unable to come from Ottawa. Twenty three of us came on a wintery day when we had power outages, ice rain and a country side that looked like it came from Waltz Disney.
The whole of Central Ontario was covered with thick ice causing an almost surreal appearance. Food was just great and Peter was at his best cooking a huge turkey for the group. Picture taking was perfect and Troy had to show his  ability to swim in the pool although it was half covered in ice.
Doris enjoyed meeting all the people and loved the food. For 98 Doris gets along just fine. She stayed later than usual and barely made it home in time before lockout.
We were entertained by a fox who wanted to join the party but stayed in the shadows of the trees which received a spring pruning by Mother Nature The ice on the branches did some damage but not as bad as in some areas.
Most of the talk around the room was about our next big event, Megan is getting married on May 14th and we will all be celebrating having Jamie becoming part of our Clan. I love our Clan especially when all eight of our grandchildren are here together. This was another of our special times when after all the fun we immediately began looking for the next encounter when we will celebrate togetherness











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