Those Were The Days

Eugene was chatting with me earlier and reminiscing about the good times he used to have with this friend of his. Larry and Eugene were roommates during Eugene's post-graduate studies at Purdue. Hemingway Larry was one of those guys who didn't easily befriend most folks but somehow bonded with Eugene. They went to football games together, traveled on the road together, and generally enjoyed each other's company. Eugene basically recalled an incident where the two of them were leaving a baseball game and was walking down a main street all smelly and sweaty. Eugene was walking ahead and was turning the corner when he stumbled across a restaurant with an outdoor cafe. He remembered a lot of the folks looking a bit swanky and he loudly exclaimed 'Ain't this some fancy shit?' The two of them walked by the group and Eugene later wondered what the folks thought of seeing two sweaty "jock type" guys, one black, one white, walking together and cracking jokes.

At the time he didn't really care and felt like the two were in their own world. Basically he was just thinking about how simple life was back then. He didn't have a lot of responsibility, neither did Larry. This especially became apparent when Eugene shared that story with Larry, how Larry lamented about the "good old days" and wished that he could just come up and go see him. But knows he has to clear it by the wife. Larry's the friend who Eugene flew to Hawaii last year to attend his wedding. He's also the guy that Eugene wished he didn't stop from potentially making out with him.

I honestly don't think Eugene's moved on from that and basically expects the future guy he meets to have Larry's same qualities, which the odds of that happening, not to mention the circumstances that their friendship was built on happening, is nil to none. Oddly enough though, I honestly don't think Larry and Eugene's story is over yet, at least in regards to
hooking up. But it may be a while before that comes to fruitation.

But he is right that I guess in life there's so many things that society says we have to do. We must go to school, must attend college and get a major, find a good job, get married (preferably with someone of the opposite sex), have 2.5 children, buy a big house, etc., etc. All those things of course adds complexity to our lives.

I of course have done most everything, except the marriage and kids. Sometimes I do wish at times that I lived a more simplier life with fewer responsibilities.

It's not to say that you shouldn't have some purpose in your life. But for those who don't follow society's blueprint of life, it isn't a mark against them if they don't do things the same way.

I think about my college friend Doug, who I actually officially came out to a week or so ago. I guess it was such a non-event (and yeah he suspected too...don't know why I bother...*LOL*) that I didn't blog about it. I did tell him how our mutual friend Keith kept giving me the 3rd degree about my love life when he came to visit me last summer. So I figured since I told Doug, he'll probably tell Keith and next time Keith and I hang out (if there is a next time), he'll stop grilling me....*LOL*.

Hemingway I also finally opened up to him because he opened up about his marriage of almost eight years. Basically it's not all it's cracked up to be. They're not even living together anymore. He's contemplated divorce but part of his reason for not doing so is because he knows his wife is under his health plan and would have trouble finding another since she doesn't work. He's gone through a lot in the last year or so, losing his mother to a mysterious illness and of course his marital issues. By all standards, the two of them are separated.

But it just shows how complicated life can sometimes get when we follow society's path. But hell it's complicated when you don't. Sometimes I long for those boring summer days when I didn't have a care in the world. Those were the days.