Bruce Redux

 A brother as friend.

After high school we all started going our different ways.  Work, and college and dating and shortly after that marriage and family and children, they all got in the way.

What happened is common, we lost touch.  We weren't playmates any more, we were no longer in competition for attention, and grades and who could spit watermelon seeds the farthest.  I moved with my husband and kids to the East Coast and our lives didn't touch as much.

I heard second hand from Mom what was happening in the lives of each of my family members but we just lost touch personally.

Then, children grew up and went out on their own and suddenly we had time, time to travel and visit, and maybe even regret a little.  Bruce came East to Virginia to take part in a road race, I went down to visit with him and Jeanne, and we rediscovered each other.  Without the competition, and with the grace that age gives us (sometimes) it was great to connect with someone who shared some of the same memories and weirdly, looked at the world in the same way I did.  We found we had a lot more in common than in difference.  We talked and laughed and shared memories.  How cool it was.  It was great to find someone as curious as I am about everything.

One memory I will treasure forever now, we decided to meet in Niagara Falls in the fall and it was so much fun.  His wonder at the falls, his enjoyment of pitting himself against that water spray.  However, my favorite memory, is of all things, the Butterfly Conservatory.  We stood there talking and grinning and there were butterflies of every color flying around us and we stood with our arms out letting some of the braver ones land on our arms.  I don't need a camera to remember that time and now with him gone I will hold that memory close.

I had a brother and a playmate when I was young, and a friend when I was old.  Thank you Bruce.  God bless.