Memories

I may have written about this before but then again maybe not - as I get older memory tends to dim, at least some of them do.

One of the strongest memories I have is that of my very good friend Dave. Dave and I met when we were both freshmen in the same college. He and I struck it off and with three other young men we formed a clique of sorts. Four of us were from the New York area and one was from Western Massachusetts. Of the five of us, three were like-minded to a striking degree. We liked many of the same things. As our time in school progressed our attention to classes diminished somewhat, hell, quite a lot.

I began as a math major, Dave started as a Poli.Sci. major, Dirk was a pre-med. My days as a math major ended quickly when I found that freshman calculus and I did not get along at all. Looking around for something to major in I took several different courses, but one of them, a beginning Poli.Sci. course taught by a very dynamic, almost evangelistic instructor hooked me on Poli.Sci.

In any case the five of us would spend more time at the movies than in classes. In the early 60's the theaters along 42nd street between 5th and 8th avenues were all running third showings of b-movies, the action adventures that show up today on channels like TNT and TBS, and sometimes SciFi. Our last year in college we must have watched every movie available.

After we graduated Dirk went to medical school in Belgium (he is now a respected psychiatrist,) Dave went to Albany law and I went to St. Johns Law for want of anything better to do.

Dave graduated and eventually took over his father's practice after he (the father) was elected/appointed to a judgeship.

Dave and I got together regularly after college, and remained best friends. He was best man at my wedding. After the WWON (wicked witch of the north) and I split Dave remained my friend until he passed away at a very early age (he was in his middle 40's). We used to meet for lunch in mid-town once a month for long lunches. I remember our time together very fondly. He was someone I could talk to very easily. I asked him to handle my divorce but that wasn't his area of expertise but he was was able to recommend an excellent attorney.

My ex had served me with papers accusing me of all sorts of things but I am pretty sure wanted the divorce because she had someone on the side, I am just not sure if it was a man or a woman.

I commuted from Smithtown, LI to NYC every day, leaving at 5:45 AM and usually not returning until 7:30 PM. That left her lots of time for fooling around. She certainly wasn't interested in having relations with me, not that she was much good at it, but something was usually better than nothing. Most of the time however, it was nothing. Sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally.

It has been almost 20 years since Dave passed away and I still remember him fondly, any memories I have of my ex bring a bitter taste to my mouth and a churning in my stomach. Even today, after ten years I get nauseated when we meet at family events. My kids have been pretty good, they rarely invited both of us at the same time, unless, it is something that can't be avoided, like a birthday