Having a good friend to do things with is something very precious, especially if you can tolerate their habits. Nothing is worse than going away on vacation with someone and finding out you can’t stand to be alone with them for more than one hour. Then you realize you have three whole days in a hotel room ahead of you. 
Dennis and I used to go away every once in a while for fun weekends. A couple of times we went to Atlanta for what was called ‘Hotlanta River Expo’. This consisted of hundreds of gay guys partying all weekend culminating in the river raft race on one of the most polluted rivers in the south, the Chattahoochee River. The raft race was fun because everyone got kind of dressed up in costumes and blasted each other with super soakers. I really don’t know what the people who had homes along that stretch of river thought of it, but I know we had fun. It was just like we had gone back to our childhood but with an adult twist to it.
Then there was the time we decided to take a trip through Florida on secondary roads and visit the weird tourist traps we found along the way. This included the ‘Cypress Knee Museum’, an alligator farm called ‘Gaterama’, and a pineapple farm where they didn’t even grow pineapples any more.
Now Dennis is going on another trip, this time permanently and without me. He is retiring from teaching in just nine days and will be moving to Palm Springs in less than a month. We were separated like this once before when he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico and I moved here to Florida. I was able to entice him to move here a year later after a drunken night at a strip club in Pompano Beach. Albuquerque didn’t have anything like that, in fact it actually had very little night life compared to the Fort Lauderdale area.
This time however, his moving away bothers me a lot more. Because this time I know how I’ll feel when he’s gone. There will be a vacant place in my life that Dennis has filled for almost thirty years. Yes I missed my family when I moved here, but family isn’t like a good friend. Your family is required to put up with you.
Well personally I think Dennis, you and I need to climb aboard my motorhome and take the trip out there with him. On the way, we climb to the top of the Rocky Mountains dressed in Gualtier sequence, feather bowas and heels.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNAH2J1Mh9I&mode=related&search=
That was suppose to be diamond tiaras, not feather boas. We do have some class.
ReplyDeleteCan you tell I watch the comedy channel?
I think it's great that you two have been friends for all these years.
ReplyDeleteI have known Alan, Garet and Dennis for many years, but never had the closeness with anyone that you two have had. Perhaps the closest has been with Garet or another friend of mine, Simon. But you two sound almost as if you were two peas in a pod. That's wonderful.
Dennis will be missed by all of us, especially Alan. We all wish him the best of everything.
I agree with Russell that Dennis will be missed. Think of it this way: he will be scouting for more "watering holes" for us.
ReplyDeleteSo when we all move to Southern California he'll know everyone and will be able to guide us to the best restaurants, shopping malls, etc.
In a way, Russell and I have a friendship alot like Dennis and Alan. We always have a hilariously good time when we go out.
We've done some crazy things like taking impromtu surveys of patrons entering or leaving an establishment or rate people on a scale from 1-10 as they walk by. Mostly 10's though, make 'em happy.
Yes, we wish you the best Dennis. Stay in touch.