Old Friendships

Today (Sunday May 11th) has so far been nice. The Giants are starting off well, but that is beside the point. I am going to So Cal in a two weeks for yet another YRUU CON (24th!). The last time I went to So Cal was Spring Break in March. I traveled with my bicycle and 4 panniers. It was cool and fun becuase of all the places I was going to be, but a hassle since the bicycle is big and 4 bags compared to one is hard to manage. For my next adventure down their, I decided on taking Greyhound and decided a backpacking backpack was going to be a neccesity for this trip. NO BICYCLE! Well, I had already spent most of my 80 dollar gift card to REI on a bicycle helmet, so borrowing one was the next thing.

This is where my old friend Elliot comes in. He and I have known each other longer than we can remember, literaly! We had no cognitive memory at the age of less than one. His parents, too, know me well. I see them occasionally and borrowed snow gear from them too. They are my first stop for traveling gear. Therefore, backpack. Gave 'em a call this morning and the mom said come on over. The dad and I spent yet another journal crawling through the basement of their house, searching through years of junk, evenatually finding this old, beat-up burnt orange backpack in the seat of a kayak. The family likes me so much and the bag is so old the dad said keep it. Sweet, I just scored a free backpack.

Thinking about it, I realized that this friendship I have with Elliot has always come back for me. he and I, having known each other for 19 years. We never went to school together and now he lives on the east coast. Yet, somehow, we kept contact and the few times a year we hang out it is if no time has passed between us. Our bonds are just as strong as we jabber away on endlessly on whatever is going on in our lives.

That relationship (friendship) I have with Elliot I cherish. Having it makes me feel extremely lucky to know someone and have those bonds with someone. The fact that his family also likes to give me their stuff for having or borrowing is incredible. Its quite a wonder how these bonds form, but I am just glad to have them with someone.