Fine Friends

Part of this post was shared with the folks from the UCONN 360 Podcast and the IDC Community on Facebook. I expanded it a bit for this blogpost:


Fine Friends

I can remember it clear as day. January of 1975, second semester just starting, new people coming into IDC to fill the spaces of folks who had moved on. Fourth floor, at the end of B side hallway, one of the new girls, blue denim farmer overalls, thick blonde braid pulled back and dangling to her waist, round wire-rimmed granny glasses. You know, a real hippie type. When she turned, she had such a beautiful smile...

We celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary in September 2018 and I still get to see that beautiful smile, everyday.

We both got second degrees from UCONN. We raised two wonderful daughters. One who graduated Cum Laude through the Honors Program. She married a guy in the Honors Program who graduated Magna Cum Laude, and just finished his MBA from UCONN in Hartford. My second daughter preferred a smaller school and attended ECSU, but chose a UCONN Pharmacy grad as her husband. Both girls have graced us with grandchildren who sport a full complement of infant and toddler UCONN gear. Do we bleed National Flag Blue in my house? You better believe it.

At our wedding (filled with IDC friends) our beloved IDC friend Spring Burrington gave us the gift of learning and singing the song below that had became very special to us. She came to our 10th anniversary party with her husband and children to sing it again. She didn't make it in person to our 20th anniversary as by then she had lost her heroic battle against breast cancer. I present it here in her honor.

Steve Sokoloski (IDC 74-76)

Here are the lyrics if you want to sing along:

FINE FRIENDS(Lesley Duncan)

When the walls that divide us have crumbled
And there's no game to win,
When the tides run it's course
And we've tumbled
To the feelings within,
Then you know we'll be- very fine friends.

When there's no gain or loss to be treasured
And we stand in the sun,
Then we'll know that true love
Can't be measured,
There s no prize to be won
And then we'll be free to blend
Into very fine friends.

When the time comes to give to each other
As we surely Know it will,
You could be my teacher or my lover,
Take the cup and drink your fill
And you always will be,
Cherished by me.

Sunlight Music

Rules of the Road For this Blog

The American writer and humorist Garrison Keillor once said on The Prairie Home Companion,

"There is no excuse for unkind humor."

I have taken that maxim to heart and tried to practice it in real life. I take great joy in teasing people and poking fun at their foibles, but I try to do that in the most kind way possible, with a toungue firmly stuck in my cheek and visible at all times.

Such will be the guideline here. Share your stories of long ago, but be kind and generous to your old friends. You can tell stories that illustrate a point, and sometimes a painful point, but use your writing skills to weave your story so that it is hurtful to no one.

The same for things of our youth that should be left in our youth. Let the innocense of youth stay innocent. If you learned something that led you to make a change in your life, even if it was hurtful to you or people close to you, that is fine to share, but do it in way that respects each other's privacy and feelings.

Old Friends / Bookends
Paul Simon

Old friends, old friends,

Sat on their park bench like bookends,

A newspaper blown through the grass,

Falls on the round toes, of the high shoes,

Of the old friends.

Old friends, winter companions, the old men

Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sunset,

The sounds of the city sifting through trees

Settles like dust, on the shoulders,
Of the old friends

Can you imagine us years from today,

Sharing a park bench quietly?

How terribly strange to be seventy,

Old friends, memory brushes the same years,

Silently sharing the same fears...

Time it was,
And what a time it was,
 It was

A time of innocence,

A time of confidences,

Long ago it must be,

I have a photograph,

Preserve your memories

They're all that's left you