Thursday, September 05, 2013

Old Dear Friends

One of the best things about this trip has been reconnecting with a couple o' my oldest and dearest friends... Chip and Kathy.  We... all of us... go back to 1977 when we met at Fortuna AS in North Dakota.  The long and the short of it is Chip and I shared a house in Westby, Montana and we worked and played together for nearly the whole time we were there.  Chip met Kathy... who was also in the AF at the time... at Fortuna and they married about a month after The Second Mrs. Pennington and I married.  Chip and I were each other's Best Man at our respective weddings... so, yeah... we have HISTORY.  I'm sure all of you Gentle Readers have experienced this phenomenon: the three of us haven't seen each other since the mid-90s but we picked up EXACTLY where we left off.  That's the way it is with old, dear friends.

I searched the blog for pictures of us back in the day and came up rather short.  I have pictures of Chip and Kathy's wedding that I could scan if I were home and I also have other pictures of the two of them (you could look up "cute couple" in the dictionary and find their picture there).  But all I have with me is the laptop and my archives ain't on the device at hand, alas.  This is the best I could do:

Fortuna AS squadron picnic... Chip at the keyboard


Ah... we were so YOUNG then!  Chip hasn't changed a whole helluva lot and I only WISH I could say the same.

9 comments:

  1. Buck,
    I've got to ask. Who drove the Gremlln?
    Tom

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have NO idea, Tom. That's the first time I've ever seen it, as a matter o' fact.

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  2. Today while visiting with my uncle, he said, "We are the kind of family that cap pick up right where we left off." It made me think of several of my good friends that I can do that with. You guys look very young in those photos. I love old photos too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chip actually WAS pretty young when those pictures were taken... early 20s. I, OTOH, was 32 or 33.

      Delete
  3. Your photos are wonderful - thanks for posting them. I agree, friends are the family that we get to choose.

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    Replies
    1. I'm blessed in that I have both good friends AND good family, Anne.

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  4. My Buddy Chip sent along the following:

    I wish I had not changed, Kathy is pretty as ever though. Note in front of me in the picture that we now party, with ice cream cones, water, and our grandchildren, and it is as much fun as every. Buck and I did drink THREE beers over the evening! Wild men still.

    Yup: Wild men. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just had lunch with one of those "friends" whom I see rarely. Such fun to catch up on events and family and silly gossip! I cherish those times and thank you for reminding me of how blessed I am to have such great friends... and family in my life!

    ReplyDelete

Just be polite... that's all I ask.