The Return of Guido

No, not the Guido you all know (and who has been so helpful in moving us over to Blogger). I've got a Guido of my own.

Dan (Guido was a nickname) and I met back in college, at Ball State. We lived in the same building, although it wasn't really a coed dorm. The guys lived on the bottom four floors, in Hurst, and the gals lived on the top four floors, in Mysch. There was a curfew, but there was also a fire door between the fourth and fifth floors. How long do you think it took for our friends in Hurst to disable the alarm? Ha!

Whew, we all had some wild times, let me tell you. Dan (AKA Guido) and his roommate Jeff (AKA Lance), Steve (AKA Leroy), and various other friends and characters...Paul and Pam, Andy and Little Sue, Shannon, Melanie (who ended up being one of my roommates when we moved off-campus), that crazy guy who bit off someone's ear (I think he died several years ago)...Barb, Sharon, Lori...as I wrote to Dan the other day, sometimes it all seems like a blur.

I've lost touch with Dan off and on, but we're back in touch now. I'm glad we've remained friends, and we've had some good laughs lately.

One of them was over this picture. I have very few pictures from college, but my friend Sharon got this one of me and Dan in my dorm room. If I recall, this was right before the school year ended, and this was our last hurrah of the year. Gee, do you think we were having a good time? Dan has a look on his face like, "Damn paparazzi!" and I've got a look like I'm about ready to keel over. Notice all the pictures on the wall behind my bed. I had a bunch of the Police, and I see Jim Morrison and Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band back there. My 8-track player is on the shelf above my bed, and Dan is holding an album. That would be a VINYL album.

Dan had never seen this picture, and when I scanned and sent it to him, he got such a kick out of it. It kind of made us reflect on that time, on how we've changed and where we've ended up. I'm very happy where I am at right now, and Dan seems to be happy, too. But looking back at our college days...I suppose that was really the last time I didn't really have a care in the world. Yes, I went to class and kept my grades up to keep my small scholarship, and earned my degree, but beyond that, a whole lifetime was ahead of me, and I felt that happiness was mine for the taking. As the saying goes, shit happens, and it happens to all of us...that's just part of life, and to be expected. To have those college years in which we made the transition from being kids to being on the verge of adulthood was, in retrospect, a wonderful gift.

I haven't seen Dan for a few years now--I think the last time was when I lived in Indianapolis--and maybe we can remedy that soon. He tells me that I don't seem to have changed much (he hasn't seen the white strands popping up in my hair and the laugh lines around my eyes!), but he says he's got a beard now, and salt and pepper hair that is more salt than pepper. Ha ha! Hard to believe it's been over 25 years since this picture was taken, and it's a little unnerving to realize that. But it's all good.

I hope you'll all join me in wishing my friend Dan a very happy birthday today. He turns 46 today, and I can divulge that because I'm older. Just a little bit. Only 50 days.