raljr1,
First, my most sincere condolences!
My best friend for 68 years (we met at 3), now lives down the street from me, 30 houses away. We were neighbors when we met at 3 years old and other than a few years when he moved his family to the West Coast for business, we have always lived near each other. I consider him a Brother rather than a friend and I am actually closer to him than my own actual Bother. There is no one on earth that truly knows me better, including my own wife or his wife when it comes to knowing him!
About 1 year ago he started having some serious health issues and that started me thinking we are getting older and more vulnerable these days and that's when reality started to settle in. Thankfully he has address his health issues and he is now almost back to normal but the reality is still in my head. Having a TRUE best friend for almost 7 decades is extremely rare and unique. I cherish that concept and neither one of our wives fully understands how we have stuck together and supported each other through thick and thin - neither one of them have had that in their lives this length of time. We see each other pretty much every single day, many times (with our wives) eat dinner together, bike ride and shoot together but the "long BS sessions" several times a week over a Bourbon and a cigar reminiscing about our lives, people we grew up with and things we went through are the best of all!!
Others who know us both are amazed and entertained as we joke on each other (sort of like Abbott & Costello), tell the stories of our childhood over and over and have even suggested we do a comedy routine on the road -lol, we both have an incredible sense of humor! We are both extremely blessed that we have been best friends our entire lives! Not many will ever experience that or understand the what it means! That said, I understand!
