Wow, time goes so fast. I just heard that a dear friend passed away on Monday.

He lived on the West Coast with his family, so the last 20 years we didn’t see each other much. 

When I was a teenager, I belonged to a local church, and met my best friends ever there. We formed a folk group (it was the early 70’s) and sang everywhere together. We would sing at our church and then other churches and groups asked us to perform. We loved being together and would hold “practices” all the time. It was such a good time, and we would head out to Two Lights to be near the ocean, and talk and hang out…. such a different age then.

Mike was a couple years older than myself, and so cute! He had a white Mustang and long brown hair with rimless glasses and this ridiculous laugh that we all loved. I had a crush on him till I found out my best friend like him, then I stopped [G]. What you do for friends! 

One of our friends and her family had a camp on Sebago Lake and we would go up there and take a boat out on the lake , then play board games or just sing. We also had birthday parties all the time (and I still remember everyone’s birth date!) and any reason to get together was ok with us.We also did charity work together, and since Mike and one of the other guys was in college, we had some interesting discussions about life. 

A few years ago, Mike made a trip east. Most of us gathered at a friend’s house and pulled out guitars and spent the afternoon together, just like the old days. We taped it, thank God. 

I guess we didn’t know what a great time we were living in. Our folks never really worried about where we were, and it was safe to just get in the car and ride around, or hang out somewhere talking and laughing.  

Mike’s wife had a stroke having their last child (they had 5) This carefree “hippie” guy stayed by her side and helped her till she was recovered. He took care of the kids, and her and the house… he surprised us, but we knew the character was there all the time. 

He had 10 grandchildren when he died, wow! 

Good by Buddy, I hope you have your Mustang back. 

Val