Here's to Good Friends

I just got home from an eight-day road trip to Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh. I went with two friends, mainly to ride roller coasters, but to enjoy some other things along the way. Rose flew up from Florida to make the trip with Dita and I. My friend Blanche, who doesn't do roller coasters, stayed behind and took care of my kitties while I was away. Though the trip was great fun, getting to spend quality time with my friends afterwards was priceless.

Of my three friends, I've known Blanche the longest. In fact, he was my first gay friend, having met him way back in the mid-eighties. Dita and Rose came along somewhere in between, and we've all had good times together over the years. Dita, Rose and I got home late Saturday night after an almost 10 hour ride home from southwestern Pennsylvania. I was dropped off first at around 2AM.

Even though it was late and we were all tired, Dita and Rose were troopers, helping me in with my bags. I gave Rose a quick tour of my house as he'd never seen before. As I'm giving Rose the grand tour, Dita hung around in the kitchen, playing with the kitties, and it was he who first found them.

Hidden in spots all over my house were tiny pictures of Isabel Sanford, the actress who played Louise Jefferson on the 70's sitcom, "The Jeffersons." Now Rose, Dita and Blanche are not my friends' real names, of course. I've mentioned before that we all have our own special nicknames that we use with each other when we're together. My nickname is "Weezie", named after the character played by Sanford.

Once we saw the first little Weezie picture tucked away on a shelf in my kitchen we began finding dozens of others, hidden in pictures on my walls, in drawers, and scattered amongst the bric-a-brac. Blanche had played a good joke that gave us all a good laugh at the end of a long, tiring trip. After my two friends left for home, I began to find even more, larger images of Weezie Jefferson taped to the inside the kitchen cabinets, on the backs of doors, and even in my medicine cabinet.

The next day, Sunday, the four of us planned to go into the city on a party boat called the "Sea Tea." It's a nice three-hour sail around New York Harbor and it's often great fun. Blanche wanted to see Rose before he headed home to Florida and so we thought we'd have a little merriment together.

The evening was perfect. The sun was shining and the air was warm and breezy. The music was a good mix of new and old and the four of us had a great time dancing and laughing all night long. It was just like we did back in the day. I'd missed out on a lot of that fun back then because I was partnered for so long, but it felt good to be with these guys again like this after all these years.

Towards the end of the night, the deejay played some great old stuff, like "MacArthur's Park" by Donna Summer and "Chains of Love" by Erasure. The four of us danced on the side, enjoying the music and the views of the city. To cap the night off, one of Blanche's all time favorite songs, "Electric Dreams" by Giorgio Moroder came on. The excitement on Blanchie's face was evident as he beckoned us to sing the background as he took the lead. There we were, four fortysomethings, singing, dancing and giggling like we were in our twenties all over again. I'm sure we looked a little ridiculous to others, but we were having a good time.

Times like these are priceless. Friends are the people you choose to surround yourself with, and I'm glad I chose these three. Isn't that what life's all about? Good friends and great memories! Well, it's Tuesday now and I'm still finding little Weezies all over my house. Good one Blanche!