Times Not Forgotten

Sitting here listening to the Shins some how reminds me of my 2008 summer with untold potential and good friends. The keenest memory still lingering in my mind took place at a good friend Curtis Bartley's house well to be specific his parent's house. We were all back in town for the summer and by all back in town I am referring to the migration between college and high school town that tends to occur every summer and winter break. I was working at the time for Office Max and had some work on the side with my part time company C&D Technical. I had a busy week working countless hours during the day at Office Max developing graphics design projects and spent my early mornings and evenings running around doing work for various jobs with my newly founded company. In the evenings I would put miles on my bicycle pretending someday I would put Lance Armstrong's records to shame. At this juncture however in my memory I was sitting in my friends back yard with a fire going and we were drinking wine coolers and beer. Present was Curtis of course and my friends, Kris, Saje, Keith, and I believe Tyler. Our conversations ranged from Technical, seeing as most of us worked or studied in related fields, to Political as they often do when a good group of friends stay up late drinking in the summer. Some of my friends at the time were curious Marxists while I remained at the time an exploratory Libertarian. We would argue objectively back and forth about various pros and cons to either side of the argument always arriving at impasses mostly due to our lack of knowledge on either doctrine. Don't get me wrong we were as informed as we could be for the ages of 21, but even then the extent of our knowledge on political philosophy was no where near that of the authors writing the books we preached. All in all in the midst of this busy summer in the midst of all the hectic day to day activities I always remembered the joy of stopping from time to time to enjoy a cold drink with my friends and bullshit until anything and everything had been debated and brought to somewhat blurry conclusions. I just remembered how when I drove home I thought to myself I hope we can continue this tradition next summer... February of the next year I joined the Marine Corps.

I guess what I am trying to get at is despite where my life may take me and how out of contact I may seem, I will always remember the various relationships I had with friends throughout and I remember the times we had together. You are not forgotten.