Day 77

I’m in Denver. Just landed an hour ago. Waiting for one of my fraternity brothers to arrive. John is coming from Chicago. He’s on the ground but still on the plane so only a few more minutes to wait.

After John gets his bag, we will call Mike, also a fraternity brother. Mike is outside the airport in his truck. He lives in Boulder. As best I can tell Mike is a ski bum with a job. I don’t how many days Mike skis every year but it’s a lot. At least it used to be. I haven’t spoken to him for nearly two decades. The two conversations we’ve had in since Damian died have not been about skiing. We have a lot of catching up to do. 

It will be interesting (?) to see how the guys treat me this weekend. They know about Damian. Many of them reached out in the days following his death. I would not have heard from them otherwise. That’s as much on me as it is on any of them. Our lives just went separate directions and we lost touch. It’s too bad it took something as terrible as Damian dying  to bring us together again. I can say with 100 percent certainty that if not for that I wouldn’t be here now. The other guys have mostly stayed in touch with each other. Just not with me. Some of it has to do with me living in Atlanta, but not all. Some of it was my choice. Different priorities. Different views. That said, I do feel somewhat anxious about how this weekend is going to go. 

Dawn is not with me. For the first time since we lost Damian. She is Arizona with close friends of ours - Mark & Kip. I won’t see her again until Tuesday. She told me several times over the last few days that she is nervous about being separated. I told her it would be ok since she is with two people we both love dearly and trust explicitly. Now that I’m here and by myself, I’m more worried for me than I am for her. The guys I know from college can be a lot of fun. They can also be incredibly cruel and mean-spirited. That is usually in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol consumed. I don’t how hard they still drink and party. 

I guess I’m about to find out. 


Wish me luck.



Sent from my iPad

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