Bill Remembers the Details of the Books We Read

Last night I enjoyed a few laughs with one of my oldest and best friends, Bill Hewitt. There is something that is so wonderful about old friends…the kind who really know you, remember stuff, and who get the joke–every time.

We watched the Florida Gators trounce the Ohio State Buckeyes. I don’t usually watch college football, but this was the national championship, and in some ways it isn’t really about the game…it’s more about hanging with an old friend, and laughing about the silliness of the ‘pageantry, the magesty’ of the halftime show, and what the players do to each other. In college, unlike the pros, you see so many late hits, so many cheap shots, it’s like these guys are all so pumped up, they just can’t be civil, and as a result, get penalized many yards for unnecessary late hits and facemask penalties. Their exhuberance makes the games more fun to watch.

Another thing I like about Bill–he reads the books I lend him. Last night we had fun talking about a book I just loved. Jeffery Tayler’s “River of No Reprieve” that is about a journey down the Lena river in Siberia in an inflatable boat. Bill remembered so many of the details, such as what the Siberians call the Muscovites and the whole West–the Materiak–and we chuckled over the scenes such as the village where, even from the river, the author could tell that everyone in the town was drunk as a skunk.

Yep–old friends are the most valuable thing anyone can hope to keep and cherish. I am sure glad I’ve got mine.