Oh, the internet is fun and helps you keep in touch with those people who were an important part of your life in the good old days … I did this, you did that, how does it feel, are you better now, how is the family I have never met, here’s my picture and do I look the same, are questions and info that passes the cyberspace test and is sent and received. But good weather is almost here and a trip for a good-old hand shake and a hug from on old friends is much much better. It makes it real and the face to face and eye to eye get-together rings chimes in the memory brain. A hug is like a boomerang - you get it back right away said Bill Keane the cartoonist of Family Circus.

A pal is defined as a close friend, or a person who has a strong liking for and trust in another: or amigo, chum, buddy, crony, or confidant. This is the opposite if enemy or foe, which may have existed at some time, but is all forgotten now. It also could be defined as a person who carries your past life into your present life. It’s called reminiscing. That is stories of the good times, once in a while the bad times, and common pals you haven’t seen for years. Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend said Albert Camus. And that couldn’t true r than when in a meeting of the pals.

And a reunion, a get-together, with an old pal always evolves into the rapping session someplace over a few beers or cups of coffee. ‘Remember when we …’, ‘remember the time we went skinny dippin in the lake and got caught with our pants down … literally’. Good stories and they take us back and make us get stuck in the younger years. ‘By the way, where is so-and-so now? I haven’t heard from him or about him for years. Has anyone?’ This is a question that always comes up when jaunting down memory lane: The missing person … the guy or gal who was always way-out-there and uncontrollable within the social standards assumed by the gang. Will Rogers said, Things ain’t what they used to be and probably never was.

There is no better feeling of elation than sitting next to an old pal, now a present pal, over a couple of drinks and looking into each other’s eyes and exchanging thoughts and stories and laughs and the sorrows of bad memories. There is nothing that makes the heart pound with new life like that, and nothing like the rush of joy rushing through the body than these times. An old friend at your side is like a battery jump-start to a life. Everything is working again, and the headlights are on and the future looks bright once more.

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