Blast from the past
I was looking around my house the other day for images to hang on the wall and I came across the picture above. "Naked", is an image that was done by one of my best friends during my college days at RIT. To give credit where credit is due, Jeff Keegan is the artist. When I first saw that image, I was blown away. It was different than all the other thousands of photographs I had seen, and it was way beyond my creative thinking. Jeff is just one of those people who dances to the beat of a different drum.
When I pulled the image out of my closest, I instantly remembered all the great times I had with Jeff and his girlfriend Carolyn. Every Thursday night I ventured over to his apartment in downtown Rochester to watch "Must See" TV, drink some beer, eat some grub and smoke some.... We'll leave it at that. Most of all I remember all the laughing.
The last time I had spoken to Jeff and Carolyn was just after 9.11 when I sent email to Jeff to make sure they were OK. That was all about to change.
A couple days ago I shot off an email to Jeff, hoping his address was still valid, and soon got a reply. Yesterday, my cell phone rings with a unknown caller ID and to my surprise it was my bud Jeff. We got the customary hi how you doing chat out the way and quickly turned into two little boys during show and tell after summer vacation. Damn it was great to hear from him and Carolyn. They are the only people I have stayed in touch with from college.
It's hard to explain, but me, Jeff and Carolyn are so totally different people, but we get along like the best of friends. I miss them just as much as I miss the rest of my family. Being 3500 miles apart makes casual correspondence something that just doesn't happen. Hopefully, that is all about to change.
Something that Jeff and I have always had in common is kites. We used to drive over to Lake Ontario to fly our stunt kites on the beach. I still have the kite that I once thought was a gem to fly. While talking to Jeff I mentioned my upcoming annual kiting trip to Spring Break Buggy Blast (now called North America Buggy Expo). Several hours later I got another call from Jeff and he told me he and Carolyn were seriously thinking about flying out to join me. WOW! That would be amazing. Having them come out to the dry lakes to experience what I consider my favorite time of the year would be nothing short of spectacular.
So now it begins. The rekindling of a friendship that I hope will last forever. Jeff and Carolyn, I really love you guys. Please, let's stay in touch.
