Bill
Trip Start
Oct 16, 2007
1
46
52
Trip End
Dec 16, 2007
Farmington Hills,
Michigan,
United States
Thursday, June 11, 2009
However, only one goes back @& years - my friend Andy told me I had to stop using specific numbers. Yep, one of them goes back to a MacDonald's on Plymouth Road - one of the first franchises to open - where he picked me up when Mac's were only 15 cents and fries were 12. At least we think that's what they cost because when we talked we couldn't really remember the exact amounts. We just knew they were cheap and so was gas. I was driving a white 59 T-Bird with a red leather interior and power windows. He was driving a white GTO convertible.
The rest is history. He took me home to meet his mother. I dated a few of his friends and eventually married one of them. He dated half of my high school class which made going back to high school reunions a lot of fun until he married and his wife put a stop to it
GTO:Symphony in Madras
. Before the marriages we spent a lot of time together and ended up at the University of Michigan where he and his roommates at the Dental School and my roommate Winnie gathered for dinners and evenings out. One memorable (if we could remember it) night at the Del Rio Bar we drank enough Pink Squirrels for our blood alcohol to surpass the legal limit and our stomachs to scream in protest at the liquid assault. OMG. Meredith, the bartender, had enlisted our assistance in helping erase the horrors she had endured earlier in the day during her anatomy lab. Looking back I think that night might have marked the end of her career in nursing.We traveled back and forth to school, ate meals together and spent endless hours in the UGLI or the graduate library pouring over texts, writing papers, studying for exams or trying to stay awake. And we all continued to remain friends and spend time together because those were the times and that was the kind of people we were.
One evening, years later, Bill and Diann had joined Al and I for dinner when we discovered that the drug store where Bill had worked (and I stopped by regularly) throughout high school and some of college had been owned by Al's cousin Sid. The same man who wanted to send Bill to pharmacy school when Bill was considering Dental school. Didn't I tell you about beshart?
So today Bill and I are winding down our careers so long ago started at the U
Guarden Dog
. Bill has retired from his teaching job in Ann Arbor but continues to maintain his practice with a staff that go back 20 some years - talk about family. When I'm home we merge our time. Diann, who continues the family tradition of hospitality and great meals, takes time in the summer to talk and share kid stories. My friend and I have started a yearly pilgrimage to Point Pelee to fulfill our role as greeters to the migrating birds as they wing their way back from their winter residencies. We set out this year binoculars and bird books in tow. The day dawned perfect and we rejoiced at being alive as we ate - sandwich in one hand binoculars in the other. On the trip home I made a wrong turn and detoured us over the bridge from Canada back to the states. But as luck would have it, under the cloudless sky, the view of the Detroit shoreline stretching mile after visible mile off into the horizon was a sight for memories. We drove by the remains of the train station, solitary and windowless, and the controversial remnant of Tiger (AKA Brigg) Stadium and viewed them with a feeling of sadness for the passing of Detroit's history they had once represented.
Before I dropped Bill off we made a plan to meet for a garden and gazpacho day. My friend's gazpacho falls into the 99.9th percentile. Although he has provided me with the recipe, mine never turns out quite as good as his
The Path
. Well, maybe he has provided me with the recipe. We have also discovered we seem to be in the minority of people who savor the summer soup. So last week, a crusty French baguette in hand, I headed over to the Never's lovely home that backs up on a small stream where Bill has planted and nurtured over 300 varieties of hostas and other plants. Did I mention he was also a master gardener? Bill has always been artistic. The same steady hands that drilled, filled, cleaned, and pulled teeth have designed butterfly boxes, jewelry, and gastronomic treasures - just ask the supper club about his cake! I can't olfactorally share the gazpacho but I can show you a part of the beautiful landscape Bill has created and some of the birds we saw in Canada.
As the years have passed I have come to treasure the people in my life more than I can ever let them know. Two years ago Bill and Diann were by my side - Diann with a pair of conservative pajamas for my hospital experience. Bill with his air of well being and calm demeaner. I have watched Bill, a man I have come to think of as a brother, as he listened intently to patients, friends, and family. In all my life I think Bill is the best listener I have ever had the pleasure to observe. And he remembers, which is something that makes me and the other people with whom he shares space feel important and valued.
Too all of the great times we have shared. How sweet and fulfilling good friends make life
See Bill, I didn't even mention how the first time I took you skiing you tried to put your ski straps UNDER your skis rather than around your ankles. It took you a moment to figure out why you weren't sliding down the hill with the rest of us but once you got the hang of it............
Comments
Love those shorts
KS, what a wonderful story. Nastalgic, personal, and from the heart. The pics are fantastic and you even have names for the birds.