This vacation at Brian's might not turn out so bad after all. Despite the many differences in viewpoint we have developed living in different worlds over the years I have discoverd that we do still have some common ground.
Today we spend several hours wandering around a nearby state park marveling over the fact that we both still love the out of doors. It was quite enjoyable. We didn't spend a great deal of time talking about things past, we seemed to be rather enjoying the present moment to much to be bothered.
Then we went into the city to do some shopping. I've always detested shopping and he always loved it. That remains true to this day, but just as in our youth I tagged along and enjoyed watching him attempt to drive me crazy with his 'fashion sense' He was a bit of a flashy dresser in his youth, some things just don't change. After we tossed our purchases into his car we located a street vendor where we discovered that we still enjoy our hot dogs slathered up the same old way.
And his sense of humour doesnt seem to have waned over the years either. He pulled a pen out his pocket and wrote a message on a napkin and handed it to me. Precisely the same message he wrote over thirty years ago while we shared pizza at our favorite haunt. The substance of the message doesn't much matter, the important thing was that he remembered it at all, it was such a silly thing.
From there we wandered on over the the university where he earned his masters and walked about talking to a few of the students still around awaiting the start of summer sessions. We used to do that too, a different university and different students of course, but the same thing in essence. We both enjoyed the banter with younger ones who equally enjoyed, I think, the experience. It has been some time since I last walked acoss a college campus and it brought back many memories.
Eventually we made our way to one of his favorite restaurants, a bit hoity toity for my taste but at least it wasn't one of those places where they do food as art and when it is put in front of you you don't know whether to eat it or take it home and hang it on the wall.
I'm not a foodie so I won't even atempt to regale you with elaborate descriptions of the meal as some ( eh! silver, old friend) are wont to do. Suffice it to say the meal was excellent and the conversation even more so. We topped off the meal with a couple glasses of Grappa Moralo Moscato.
After dinner we debated whether to go out some place , catch a movie or simply return to his place and kick back. We agreed finally on the third option, much to my relief.
I am beginning to remember what it was that drew us together all those years ago. He is easy to be with, unassuming and unpretentious. There just may be somthing to this whole re-connect idea after all.
