I was sitting around today thinking about friendships.

Back in the early part of 2004, I got a call from one of my high school classmates, a true friend, suggesting a few of us may want to go to Houston soon to pay a visit to one other of our 1970 classmates. It didn’t appear that he would live much longer. Richie had a very aggressive form of brain cancer. He was now in a rehab unit in Houston.

John, Tommy and I left Marble Falls early on that morning, just a day or so after we knew we needed to get on down to see Richie.

Birney was was living in San Antonio and would meet us in Columbus. Then the four of us could ride together on down to Houston.

We arrived at Richie’s place. It was just after noon. We had stopped to eat when we got into the edge of Houston. Regardless of how Richie had been feeling prior to us arriving, he soon was in a chipper mode. We were there for most of the afternoon. The staff assured us we were welcome to stay as long as we wanted.

There were a thousand stories told that day. If not a thousand, there were many. We assured Richie that we’d see him again. And we did. Prior to his passing, his daughter brought him to his Sister’s place in Marble Falls, Richie’s boyhood home. That time the four us went to see him, where a party and dinner was held. There were an abundance of people that came that evening. It was a great celebration. Richie passed on not too long afterwards.

But today I thought about that trip to Houston. As I ran those conversations through my mind, and thought of who said what, it occurred to me that I’m the only one left that was along on that trip, not so many years ago.

Call a friend, go see a friend. Let them all know you love them.