Back in June, I got together with some old highschool buddies (Weston White, Brett Butler, Bobby Burns, and David Dixon) out at Weston's family's cabin on Pickwick Lake to celebrate, if you will, my forthcoming September wedding. We were out there for two nights and three days, and we stayed up 'til the wee hours catching up on everyone's life and telling stories about the good ol' days. A week or so later, I'm sure after getting back home and continuing to reminisce about our younger days, Weston sent me a picture in an email. But before I talk about the picture, let me set the stage...
When we were younger, Weston lived down the street from me...I was on Hickory Road and he was on Pine Road. Right before we entered the 1st grade, Weston and his family moved to Nashville. They were gone for about a year, and then they returned to Corinth a little over a year later. Weston walked into my 2nd grade classroom (Mrs. Askew's room) one day, and I can remember jumping from my chair and running to the front of the room and giving him a huge bear hug. My ol' friend was back!
His dad had an old clinic near the YMCA, and they converted it into a house and lived there while they built a house a few hundred yards away near the old sawdust mill. Although he had been gone over a year, when he stepped foot back into Corinth, we picked up exactly where we left off. Our days were spent in the woods behind his house and in Phillips Creek near my house...playing Rambo or whatever adventure games came to mind. We spent so much time together, in fact, that Dr. White started calling us "Jake & Jack."
The picture that Weston sent me was from Camp Hopewell during the Summer of 1980. He and I went to camp for a week, and we were favorites because of the UMAA t-shirts that we wouldn't take off. Because Hopewell is near Oxford, the camp counselors were usually Ole Miss students doing the camp thing for a summer job. UMAA stood for "University of Mississippi Athletic Association" but we were told it meant "Un-Married And Available." So we refused to take the damn things off! Weston's "accessory" was his bandanna, and mine was my magnifying glass on a string around my neck....to look at bugs and fossils up close. Yes....I was a dork...but at least I was outside being a dork, rather than inside eating Twinkies and watching Gilligan's Island...being a dork.
Jake & Jack - Camp Hopewell - Summer 1980
The next 20 years or so were spent in grade school, high school, college, and the "real" world up until now. Unfortunately, over the years we all pretty much grew apart. Not that it's a bad thing...I think it just happens when everyone goes their separate ways. If we'd all moved back to Corinth, it would be different. However, I went off to college, spent 3 years in the Army, and now live in Atlanta with my new bride, Hadley. Weston went to college, worked at N.O.L.S. in Wyoming, and now lives in Montana where he has spent the last several years working in different capacities with troubled kids...a remarkable and fulfulling career, to say the least. Not only is he married, but he and his lovely wife, Sarah, are expecting a son...their first...in a month or so.
Since Hadley and I got married in Montana in September, very few of my old high school friends were able to attend. Destination weddings are just tougher to attend the older you get. Nonetheless, Weston's proximity to Whitefish made it an easy trip for Sarah and him, and he was actually a groomsman in the wedding.
Jake & Jack - Jake's Wedding - 9/25/04
So what's my point in telling you all of this? I guess it's just to say that true friendship never dies. You may grow apart over the years, and you may not talk or see each other as often. But when you do get to see each other, most of the time it's as if a day hasn't gone by since you last spoke or got together, be it 6 months or 15 years.
So thanks, Weston. Thanks for being such a great friend. We've been through thick and thin together, and we weathered all of the storms. Jake and Jack. Jack and Jake. Uncle Festus and the Snake...
(To the rest of you guys.....get ready. I ain't done yet...)
