"Thank you for being a friend"
Hello readers and followers. Today is Thanksgiving day here in the USA. The history of the day is not relative to this blog today. I have always enjoyed Thanksgiving more than any holiday. I enjoy cooking and entertaining and meeting with my friends and family. I have used the day to thank my friends for being the most trusted small circle around me. I have actually said "Thank you for being a friend," which is a song by Andrew Gold- the lyrics are timeless. Those of you that read and follow know that I put significant meaning in how and whom I call my "friend."
In some years I gave Thank You cards to my closest friends. In one year I actually included a significant amount of the lyrics from Andrew Gold's song in a card to my friend Jill, it was done part as heartfelt banter and part in jest. Jill had jokingly included an entire song on the back of a birthday card one year because she said it would be "much better than trying to listen to her sing." Funny, fun. Friends are wonderful and great. True friends always allow you to be yourself- they don't like all parts of us all the time but they...no....we all know each other's idiosyncrasies enough to accept each of us as a total package.
Last year I had one of those epic familial disasters on Thanksgiving. I told my family that I most likely will go out of town or maybe visit friends this year. One of my closest friends, Gale- and his wife Kathy, live about 250 miles away in a beautiful area of NY state. I have always enjoyed visiting and I had asked if he would be around to go fishing the day after Thanksiving. As good fortune would have it, Gale was off from work (as corrections officer at a maximum security prison, so the prisoners don't really care about holidays) both Thursday and Friday. I was invited up for Thurs, Fri and Sat.
Our friendship was originally born out of fishing in upstate NY. My best living friend Jeff had known Gale for well over a decade when we were introduced back about 15 years ago. Gale could be friendly toward anyone, but he would measure the person and analyze them like a computer in the way that a corrections officer would the inmates on their cell block. We became friends quickly. Gale was built like a barrel and solid to the core in every sense- both figuratively and literally. I have a loud and hearty laugh, one that was matched in every way by Gale. In the moments where you're having a good time poking and joking the way that friends do, we could shake the bark off a tree with our laughter. Some of the other anglers on the river didn't really like our boisterous laughter but we didn't care.
The trips to NY went from annually planned fishing excursions originally with four of us to Gale, Jeff and I getting together a few times per year. We came to call ourselves the Core 3. Sometimes we would meet down here in greater Questionnopolis, but mostly in NY where the fishing is much better. I became the de facto camp cook and Gale would always call and say "Make sure you bring all your stuff for that breakfast that you make- and get me some of that for up here since we don't have it."
The one particular item he has always requested and enjoyed were the banger sausages imported from Ireland by the small market near my house. As an avid year round outdoorsman Gale hunted and always had plenty of venison for me. I stopped hunting years ago. We would exchange what I brought for some of his venison every time we met. The Core 3 are a group of what my friend Jill refers to as "Manly Men." We cut down trees and split our own wood, catch or hunt our own food and engage in "manly" activities like starting fires. However, as with all of my friends, all three of us would say "I love you, man" or " I love you buddy" at the end of a trip or a phone call.
In times of trouble like my divorce and some challenging times with my daughters Gale always made sure to reach out to me and check on my state of mind and state of being. My small, tight circle of friends truly looks out for each other. My saying has always been "I'm only 10 digits away for anything you need, at any time of day or night." We are all that way too.
I have been looking forward to this Thanksgiving excursion. Gale and I made final plans last Saturday morning. Late last Saturday night I got a text message from Jeff "Call me ASAP". Gale died from a fall that day while hunting. Today, on Thanksgiving I am so grateful for the friendship that I have with Jeff and for the years of laughter and support I had with Gale because of Jeff. I will spend today with Jeff's family and we will prepare to go to NY. Admittedly, I'm having a difficult time processing the fact that I will be going to exactly the same place over this holiday as I had planned...but I cannot laugh with my friend. We can't laugh with our friend. Instead we will say goodbye and cry with Kathy.
The Answerman says "Gale, Thank you for being a friend." I love you buddy.
In some years I gave Thank You cards to my closest friends. In one year I actually included a significant amount of the lyrics from Andrew Gold's song in a card to my friend Jill, it was done part as heartfelt banter and part in jest. Jill had jokingly included an entire song on the back of a birthday card one year because she said it would be "much better than trying to listen to her sing." Funny, fun. Friends are wonderful and great. True friends always allow you to be yourself- they don't like all parts of us all the time but they...no....we all know each other's idiosyncrasies enough to accept each of us as a total package.
Last year I had one of those epic familial disasters on Thanksgiving. I told my family that I most likely will go out of town or maybe visit friends this year. One of my closest friends, Gale- and his wife Kathy, live about 250 miles away in a beautiful area of NY state. I have always enjoyed visiting and I had asked if he would be around to go fishing the day after Thanksiving. As good fortune would have it, Gale was off from work (as corrections officer at a maximum security prison, so the prisoners don't really care about holidays) both Thursday and Friday. I was invited up for Thurs, Fri and Sat.
Our friendship was originally born out of fishing in upstate NY. My best living friend Jeff had known Gale for well over a decade when we were introduced back about 15 years ago. Gale could be friendly toward anyone, but he would measure the person and analyze them like a computer in the way that a corrections officer would the inmates on their cell block. We became friends quickly. Gale was built like a barrel and solid to the core in every sense- both figuratively and literally. I have a loud and hearty laugh, one that was matched in every way by Gale. In the moments where you're having a good time poking and joking the way that friends do, we could shake the bark off a tree with our laughter. Some of the other anglers on the river didn't really like our boisterous laughter but we didn't care.
The trips to NY went from annually planned fishing excursions originally with four of us to Gale, Jeff and I getting together a few times per year. We came to call ourselves the Core 3. Sometimes we would meet down here in greater Questionnopolis, but mostly in NY where the fishing is much better. I became the de facto camp cook and Gale would always call and say "Make sure you bring all your stuff for that breakfast that you make- and get me some of that for up here since we don't have it."
The one particular item he has always requested and enjoyed were the banger sausages imported from Ireland by the small market near my house. As an avid year round outdoorsman Gale hunted and always had plenty of venison for me. I stopped hunting years ago. We would exchange what I brought for some of his venison every time we met. The Core 3 are a group of what my friend Jill refers to as "Manly Men." We cut down trees and split our own wood, catch or hunt our own food and engage in "manly" activities like starting fires. However, as with all of my friends, all three of us would say "I love you, man" or " I love you buddy" at the end of a trip or a phone call.
In times of trouble like my divorce and some challenging times with my daughters Gale always made sure to reach out to me and check on my state of mind and state of being. My small, tight circle of friends truly looks out for each other. My saying has always been "I'm only 10 digits away for anything you need, at any time of day or night." We are all that way too.
I have been looking forward to this Thanksgiving excursion. Gale and I made final plans last Saturday morning. Late last Saturday night I got a text message from Jeff "Call me ASAP". Gale died from a fall that day while hunting. Today, on Thanksgiving I am so grateful for the friendship that I have with Jeff and for the years of laughter and support I had with Gale because of Jeff. I will spend today with Jeff's family and we will prepare to go to NY. Admittedly, I'm having a difficult time processing the fact that I will be going to exactly the same place over this holiday as I had planned...but I cannot laugh with my friend. We can't laugh with our friend. Instead we will say goodbye and cry with Kathy.
The Answerman says "Gale, Thank you for being a friend." I love you buddy.
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