Everyone Grows Up Sometime

We received an appraisal request only to find out that it was for a house being purchased by one of our old friends, Fed.

Only Fed is now Eric. The nickname of long ago now put aside along with youth, piercings, and the occasional tattoo. He’s now a married man, for quite some time, and stepfather to a 16 and soon-to-be 18 year old, in the middle of a new home purchase.

I always swore that Fed could have been a standup comedian, in true Fed form he joked about the upcoming 18th birthday in his house, “I keep telling him that he’s getting luggage and a u-haul.” Eh, not quite the old Fed snap, but funny, in an “I’m older and responsible now” kind of way.

This wasn’t the same Fed who laughed even though he was equally as hungover as I was when I stomped into the room on July 5th to find him, Mike, and a couple of other friends debating whether or not to finish off the 4th of July keg. “Well, if it isn’t Little Miss 10 Foot Tall and Bullet Proof,” he had said with a weak laugh.

As Mike put it, “Sometimes, catching up with an old friend isn’t as much fun as it sounds.”

Fed joked about sitting on the side of the bank with me while Mike ran to get the car. I kept asking how bad my foot was and he kept saying it was just fine, all the while trying not to puke at the odd angle to which my foot was twisted. His version of that fishing trip is far more funny than mine.

Maybe Mike was right. Getting older is better than the alternative, but it doesn’t make you miss the things that once were any less. Well, depending on what those things were, I suppose.

** Private post in the backroom… log in if you feel like it!