The Forging of a Friendship

“I can’t believe I went to College for this!”  “I can’t believe we’re getting paid this much to do this!”  These were the phrases most often repeated between Brian and me the first day we met.  We were both fresh out of college – he Mankato State, me St. Cloud State.  We had just kicked off our careers at one of the largest accounting firms in the world.  And our first week on the job we find ourselves standing in front of a copy machine (Xerox machine we called it back then) copying “audit documentation” ….all day long.  We all have to start our careers somewhere and we started at the Xerox machine.  But such a humble beginning did have its advantages and one such advantage was that it afforded Brian and me the ability to do a lot of talking as we worked. And so a friendship began.  We continued to work at the same firm a few years and then our careers took us in separate directions.  And yet through all the job changes and the distance, the new responsibilities and raising families, we never lost the friendship that was forged around a Xerox machine some 35 years ago.

And that friendship sprouted many other friendships.  A core group of close and wonderful friends along with their respective spouses have endured to this day.  With all the juggling of career and family, getting together with friends forged from our first job doesn’t happen without effort.  A dinner a couple times a year, an annual superbowl party, and an annual summer weekend get together kept the friendships intact.  All of us cherished those “too few” get togethers; the opportunity to catch up on each others’ lives, witness the growth in each others’ children, and enjoy general camaraderie that is hard to find in today’s over paced and ever changing world.

And the years passed by quickly – so quickly.  Over time, conversations shifted from jobs and careers, to the births of our children, to new homes, to our children’s successes and foibles, to our aging parents, and our children’s graduations and marriages and the births of their children.  In addition to being there to celebrate each others’ lives we have been there to support each others’ challenges and losses as well.  And now as the circle keeps on spinning, the conversations of our health (or occasional lack thereof) and retirements take on a greater portion of our dialogue.

It was at a summer weekend get together a couple years ago, sitting around a camp fire, enjoying the evening, enjoying the company of these old friends, that Brian mentioned an item on his bucket list.  Maybe it was more him wondering out loud if anyone else would be interested.  He saw in his future; sometime in the next few years; his retirement, and with his retirement a bike trip across America – the long way.  Would anyone else be interested?