Skeleton Crew
There was always the four of us. We've known each other almost all of our entire lives. Over three decades of friendship is a long time. There's a lot of history there. Too many memories, shared moments, wild nights and even tragedies shared between us to ever properly write down. My boys. My crew. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as Jorge would say. Many people would give anything for the collective friendship we four possess and some people, whom I've attempted to explain this phenomenon to, cannot fully grasp the concept of not only knowing someone for that long but being an active part of their lives. That's how it was, is and always will be with us.
Recently, I had the rare opportunity to hang out with my brothers one last time like we used to back in the old days. Adulthood has made this difficult as two of us are now husbands and fathers, one of us works a graveyard shift and the other is so focused on his new career that we rarely see him in social settings anymore. Granted, Rob was always somewhat of a recluse and hermit. It's a wonder he ever hung out with us at all. As for Jorge and Eric, if you would've told me that the both of them would beat me to marriage and fatherhood, I would have laughed in your face! Quite frankly, so they would have too!
Jorge is moving away from us down to warmer climates so he got it in his head to hang out one last time and I must confess, it was one of the best ideas he's ever had. Oh, sure! We talk all the time. Text messages, phone calls, emails, Google+ Hangouts, etc.; we always keep in touch but actually hanging out...we hadn't done it in so long. Which brings me to a great point: The best thing about having friends like this is that we're never awkward with each other. We picked off right where we left off the last time we hung out whenever that might have been.
Naturally, I got the first round and I actually got a kick that I ordered everyone's favorite drinks and no one objected. (If you haven't guessed who the alcoholic of the group is, that would be me.) That being said, before the two Guinness beers, the Long Island Iced Tea and the MacAllens single malt scotch on the rocks were even served, we were already laughing it up and having a good time. Actually, we were laughing about how things never change betewen us. Me ordering drinks. Jorge "forgetting" his wallet. (I swear! He used to do that every time!!) Rob and Eric clowning his ass for being a clown. It was a gas! Just like old times. We drank at Lazy Lannigans in Hackensack, NJ and, while I really liked that bar before, I fuckin' love it now! I'll always consider that place as holy ground after that night. Mind you, we didn't do anything crazy there. As much fun as we had, we're not kids anymore. Hell! I almost wanted to call it a night at midnight. We shared great memories and even got a little emotional saying goodbye. Well, Jorgey-boy did anyway. LOL! It was a great time and, unbeknownst to me at the time, something I really needed. Sometimes you need good friends like that to remind you of your worth and to make great memories with.
Recently, I had the rare opportunity to hang out with my brothers one last time like we used to back in the old days. Adulthood has made this difficult as two of us are now husbands and fathers, one of us works a graveyard shift and the other is so focused on his new career that we rarely see him in social settings anymore. Granted, Rob was always somewhat of a recluse and hermit. It's a wonder he ever hung out with us at all. As for Jorge and Eric, if you would've told me that the both of them would beat me to marriage and fatherhood, I would have laughed in your face! Quite frankly, so they would have too!
Jorge is moving away from us down to warmer climates so he got it in his head to hang out one last time and I must confess, it was one of the best ideas he's ever had. Oh, sure! We talk all the time. Text messages, phone calls, emails, Google+ Hangouts, etc.; we always keep in touch but actually hanging out...we hadn't done it in so long. Which brings me to a great point: The best thing about having friends like this is that we're never awkward with each other. We picked off right where we left off the last time we hung out whenever that might have been.
Naturally, I got the first round and I actually got a kick that I ordered everyone's favorite drinks and no one objected. (If you haven't guessed who the alcoholic of the group is, that would be me.) That being said, before the two Guinness beers, the Long Island Iced Tea and the MacAllens single malt scotch on the rocks were even served, we were already laughing it up and having a good time. Actually, we were laughing about how things never change betewen us. Me ordering drinks. Jorge "forgetting" his wallet. (I swear! He used to do that every time!!) Rob and Eric clowning his ass for being a clown. It was a gas! Just like old times. We drank at Lazy Lannigans in Hackensack, NJ and, while I really liked that bar before, I fuckin' love it now! I'll always consider that place as holy ground after that night. Mind you, we didn't do anything crazy there. As much fun as we had, we're not kids anymore. Hell! I almost wanted to call it a night at midnight. We shared great memories and even got a little emotional saying goodbye. Well, Jorgey-boy did anyway. LOL! It was a great time and, unbeknownst to me at the time, something I really needed. Sometimes you need good friends like that to remind you of your worth and to make great memories with.
As for my Crew, this won't be the last time we see each other. I wish us all good fortune on all our endeavors. We've come a long way from St. Joseph's catholic school, haven't we? We'll meet again sooner or later. After all, we're family.
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