My best friends

Just as the sun was rubbing the sleep from it's eyes this morning, Silvi and I settled into some chairs at Brit's to watch Arsenal beat Manchester United. Again. The pub was packed with fans of both teams; Silvi has chosen, wisely, to throw in with her Dad's favorite, United.

Seeing so many friends gathered together made me think of my own friends. I've got a few guys I consider good friends, but my best friends in life, apart from my wife, have always been my sister and brother.

In the picture above, we're in Hollywood; it was the early 90's. My sister and I drove out from Colorado, where we were living, to meet up with my brother in LA and head down to Baja for some surfing, cheap ponchos and fish tacos so fresh they came with tackle gear in case they slipped away. And orange Fanta or a Corona - with a wedge of lime. My sister and I drove straight through, with Led Zeppelin as our wailing travel companion. On cassette. This was before the CD era. (Man, I'm old. I remember when calculators... but I digress.)

We wandered around Rosarito, bargaining with the shop keepers, stuffing ourselves until the shocks on the rented car begged for mercy. We rode some skinny, lethargic horses on the beach, listened to music, surfed (I nearly drowned, but that's another story) and fell asleep with the patio door open just enough to allow the crash of the waves give us the best night of sleep ever recorded in written history. It's in the Guinness Book of Records. Look it up.

If I took the time to tell you about all the good memories I have with my sister and brother, I would make Tolstoy look like a short story writer. We are all married now, with children, and live in separate parts of the country. Despite the distance, I think of them often, especially whenever I hear Robert Plant tell me "it's time to ramble on" or the wind whips the waves onto our little beach.

The days go so quickly. I think that's why I've started carrying my digital camera with me so often. After United hung their head in defeat this morning, all the friends filtered out into the streets, some laughing, some looking like they had just drank beer imported from Wisconsin. But I was only thinking about how I wished my sister and brother could have joined me on this fine Fall morning.