Control for Smilers Can’t Be Bought.

Last week I met up with my awesome childhood friend @thomasrhodges for some summer @phish …& as often happens at a Phish experience, the music reflected so much more.

Tommy & I went to kindergarten thru 3rd grade Catholic school together, before I was moved back a grade (due to extra ordinary ADHD), around the same time that he left for a different public school.

Then, we went to the same Jesuit high school in DC for one year, before he transferred to a local co-Ed Catholic high school (for some very good reasons).

It was highly in part to Tommy that I attended @stbonaventureuniversity with him for my first two years of college, before I transferred to @collegeofcharleston for my own very good reasons!

The decision to transfer to CofC ultimately got me into surfing, which paved the path that has resulted in life as & where it is now.

Tom and I lost touch for 24 years after I transferred colleges. That’s a lot of time, & a lot of lifetimes that occur within that kind of time.

I saw him two years ago & we picked our friendship back up and it just makes me so grateful. Our childhood and so many mutual friends from it were topics among many treasured memories of old that made their way into our flowing & extremely fun conversations.

Phish is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Even for those whom it is, not everyone gets it like I witnessed in Tom. Watching him smiling from ear to ear while to a band 40 years in the making & both of us 30 years into seeing them…it was a powerful & validating moment of enjoying the most of this fleeting glimpse of life.

I share all this to honor, celebrate & commemorate the time we had, & to reflect that the trip is short, & we’re all dancing with an emptiness that offers no guarantees, so it seems more important than ever to make the most of it.

I’d offer that if this post inspires you, reach out to a friend you’ve long since lost contact with. You never know how epic the reflection that awaits you just might be!!!