I just heard from my daughter that an old friend died last week. He had mental problems ever since I met him 35 years ago which got progressively worse. He was a super nice guy though which I always liked about him. However it was a one sided relationship and he eventually just quit calling 20 years ago.
A funny story about him. I ran into him in town one day around 15 years ago, and I said hey you want to go shooting, so we decided to go that afternoon. He said he wanted to follow me out which was fine. I'm ahead of him on I-40 and look back to see that he keeps going off over to the side to stop then back onto the highway again, over and over. I'm thinking he must be having vehicle problems so I pull over and back up slowly. I asked him what was wrong and he said that he felt uncomfortable being that far out of town which was maybe 5 miles if that, LOL???!!! I didn't say it out loud but I'm thinking to myself, man bro, you poor guy, you've really lost it bad. I was able to talk him into going out the other 5 miles and we had a great time.
I ran into him once more about 10 years ago and we talked for a few minutes which was the last time I saw him.
Had some friends when I was in my mid 20's to late 30's which I thought were good guys but it turned out half of them were a bit odd and the others liked my slutty wife, well ex wife, way more than they liked me. It's really weird when you go to pick up your kids, knock on, what was your front door two weeks before when you lived there, and your wife(not divorced yet) and best friend are now beddy besty's! That hurt but after a while the realization that I was free from Jezebel turned out to be totally awesome. She's on her 5th or so man now, or I should say that I know of, and still causes trouble to this day.
Going back to high school/HS and for a few years afterwards I decided to quit partying and doing stuff that was going to land me in jail but my friends didn't so ties were mutually cut and we lost contact. All of sudden one shows up at my door last year which is 43 years later. He'd banged his head real bad in a motocross accident 24 years ago and he isn't quite all there anymore which is sad, and I can only hear his same stories so many times, so I kinda dread when he calls, lol. Not to mention his wife is a little "off" herself. It's a bit draining but I like him and we hang out occasionally nevertheless.
He got me in touch with a couple other HS friends but we pretty much don't have stuff in common anymore. One married a wife half his age and has young kids at 65 years old so he's occupied, lol. The other lives in Taiwan and is still partying.
I have acquaintances now but that's it. One has cancer and limited as to what he can still do, which is super sad for me, the others we don't exactly see eye to eye on things. Ones last name is Berger and sometimes he gets moody and acts like a A-hole and that's when I say his ASSBERGERS has kicked in, lol. Gotta watch out for those old single guys that have, RC planes, guns, reloading equipment, targets, bows, motorcycle's', a pool table, basically crap everywhere, also pictures of neked lady's, all in their living area.
My direct family, Mom, Dad, brother and sister are dead. Being holiday season I miss them even more.
I do have a fantastic wife of 19 years now though so I'm good there.
The only control we have is on our end so try to treat others the best you can muster. Some people are flat out not worth being around at all and even God himself knows this so don't feel bad about it and go on.
But we need to forgive them too or we end up with that particular monkey of unforgiveness on our back.
By midnight I am usually ready to raise the white flag and either Uber home or have my wife come pick me up.
