Over the course of a lifetime, I would bet that there are very few people who can claim to have been friends with another person since the age of 4 or 5. I have been lucky enough to have a few friends I can make such claims about and Ron is one of them. We first met around the age of 4 in nursery school, that vague grade before kindergarten essentially meant to help young children socialize with others and get accustomed to being in a school like setting before they actually get there. I still have memories of that first year being friends with Ron, the houses we attempted to build with life size lincoln logs, the holes we made in the walls with a hammer surreptitiouly left out for us to find, and the odd places we would find to hide such as at the top of a bookshelf near the ceiling. However much fun we had that first year, it was but the start of a lifetime of friendship. Our parents ended up sending us to the same grammar school, St. James in Stratford, where through every grade we found new ways of occupying ourselves during classes and outside of school climbed trees, played in the mud, explored every corner of the school we went to. I still remember to this day how in fourth grade we used to gather up fallen bingo chips that the elderly had dropped on a previous Friday night, unused glitter from art projects, and anything shiny and useless we could find; all to build a small "treasure" as we called it. We then took that treasure, carefully wrapped it in plastic sandwich bags (the old fold over kind before they had Ziploc) and buried it in my backyard, essentially creating our own buried treasure motif in hopes that we could go back years later and find it somewhere in the ground. To this day, that "treasure" has been lost and never found.
It was upon a foundation of building things, exploring the outdoors, and creating our own little world that our friendship grew and carried on. I still remember many of the people from my grammar school, all grown up now, but Ron is one of the 2 that I still remain friends with. High school was a temporary parting of ways, not due to some unresolved conflict, but rather due to my desire to explore who I was absent of the friendships I had forged in high school. What did I find you might ask? Perhaps one or two other friendships that have lasted through the years, but none as sound as the friendships I had earlier. Looking back, perhaps I shouldn't have just abandoned my grammar school friends to the extent that I did, but in tribute to them, they remained my friends despite me and my actions. So high school came and went, and life moved on. It wasn't until after high school that the friendship I had with Ron drew us back into frequent contact with each other. We began to hang out again, frequent the under 21 clubs in New Haven, and create our own havoc. Over the course of those years, there were many times when we were there for each other; either to bail each other out from a sticky situation or simply assist the other willingly with a project and with no expectation of repayment. Isn't that what friendship is all about, giving selflessly without expectations? In essence, that is what we have and continue to have to this day. Although as you get older, life seems to take up more and more of our time, we still remain friends and have on a number of occasions been there for each other. Knowing Ron as well as I know him, he is not one to offer help without expectation of repayment to just anyone, but I consider myself lucky enough to be one of the few he does that with.
Now that I am married with a son and he is engaged and due to be married next fall, I couldn't be happier for him. I think that at times he doesn't realize how lucky he is to have found a woman who will stick by him or how well off he is (despite his denial of it). I will always call him a friend, no matter what happens, and I think that in time, he will come to realize how lucky he is. If there is one thing about Ron that I value above all else, it is his dedication to his friends and family. I see it first hand having been friends with him for so long and I can see that when he does start his own family and has his own children (which he admits he does want), he will become a better person for it. I have a feeling that no matter what happens in the future course of our lives, we will remain friends. I am personally lucky to have forged such a strong friendship with him from an early age and through thick and thin have maintained that friendship. I feel that if a friendship can be maintained throughout a person's tumultuous teenage years and beyond, then it is fairly certain to persist. So to Ron, his well being, his friendship over 25 years (wow, a quarter of a century (now I feel old)) and to plenty of good times to come, I pay tribute. Cheers to you, your fiancee, and your life ahead of you, may it be the best!
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