An old friend from my time in Akron OH (1979-1987ish) shared a photo with me today, and it brought back so many memories, almost all of them good.

Those years in Akron were some of the best of my life. Great job with horrible bosses (plenty of stories there). The peak of health in my adult life. Playing Go at lunch with the other aerospace engineers every day, playing basketball most evenings after work, golf with my work buddies. Getting to work on world-changing technology with people smarter than me. My best friend in those days, in the picture at top left, was everything I wasn’t. Worldly (he had been a lot of places I hadn’t), from a family of means, confident, and emotionally mature. He and I spent a ton of time together, great times I still remember. I’m thankful that he was thoughtful enough to share that picture (and others) with me.

In that period my Mom died and late in that period, Emily was born. The worst and the best of times. In retrospect, I can see that Mom dying sent me into a tailspin that took years to recover from. I ran away from people and places who would have supported me, but I was too dumb and broken to make good decisions at the time. 20-20 hindsight.

Taking a cue from the photo, here’s to old friends!