I ran into an old friend of mine from back home this weekend. It was a little surprising and weird, hadn't seen him in about 10-12 years. He had a couple kids and everything. Turns out we live about 4 miles apart, we'll see if we end up hanging out.
He got me thinking about all the people we grow up labeling "best friend". That term really doesn't mean jack squat. We rotate the term to whoever is currently spending the night at our houses in elementary school, to whoever drives us around in high school, whoever will drink or go to the nudie bars with us in college, and whoever becomes our neighbors as grown ups.
My first good friend moved out of town, right before junior high, then my high school friends weren't interested in college, so they slowly disappeared, when I transitioned to Austin, one friend remained from back home, he was to be my roommate, and another one was close by, going to Tx. State (the guy I just ran into). A couple other guys I met in the junior college, were also coming to UT and they became my roommates, although I didn't initially know them very well. Well, as it worked out, one of the new guys became my closest friend through the UT years. Roommate from back home was not really into discovering new and interesting things. To know someone is to live with them, you think you like playing with your nutsack, until you see another guy who will not let them go, even while just watching regular TV, ah, life with male roommates.
Those years were great and my roommate was always ready to go check something new, even if we didn't have money. Looked into joining frats, went to some football games, of course 6th Street, always necessary, at that age, house parties, and everything in between. It was a great three year run, but all good things come to an end. Graduation arrived, he went back to his hometown, my wife came up to Austin, and we pretty much settled into the life I've been living.
We met our old neighbors and things were great for a few years, bought a boat, they'd join us all the time, then an RV, more fun times, but I guess eventually things get old. They divorced, we kind of lost touch, we still keep in contact, but it's not the same.
Each phase of my life has had great people that were perfect for that time, I'm not sure it even works if like a mad scientist, you moved the friend from elementary school in as my neighbor now, or my neighbors, would we could we have been friends in high school?
Reminds me of a quote I read recently: Nothing Ever Goes Away Until It Teaches Us What We Need To Know. The people in our lives are supposed to be there, we learn from them, both good and bad things, we need to be well rounded to become human and school is not enough to teach us everything.
In conclusion, I have been Robin more than my fair share, but by observing all my childhood heroes and learning from them, I believe I have very gradually become the Batman.
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