5. BB Guns and Dirtbikes

 The White Buffalo makes his first appearance on this blog with a song about childhood friends. From the first time I heard this song I was immediately taken back to Dyer, IN and the years I spent as friends with two brothers that shared my love of being outdoors.  We would fish, hunt, play video games, listen to music, drive around and just cause whatever havoc three teenagers could. 

These guys were a party to many of the hardest laughs I have ever had courtesy of our adventures. I can still remember fishing, stocking ponds, stocking the creek, road trips to the lake, severe sunburns, trick or treating in July, thank you Jerry Taft, car accidents, TNN bass, cut throat pool, "borrowing" jet skis and almost crashing them, a guy jumping in the bed of a pick up truck while passing through a rough town, Tombstone, sick as, Berkley SHH T,  a dead deer with sunglasses, hooves in the halls, autographs from old ladies and so much more. I can't fathom all the things I have forgotten, but those things I do remember make me smile when I look back on those times.  

They were simple times in a simpler world that occurred at an age just before adulthood. Just before that period of time when life starts to get complicated.  You don't realize it at the time, but childhood friendships are as real and true as you may ever have.They shape you and stay with you. The movie Stand By Me closes with the line " I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" So true.