An October Kind of Friend

Years ago, an old friend found me on Facebook. I’ll never forget his first message. He asked if I remembered him, and went on to say that he would understand if I didn’t. I was a little shocked by that statement, because we had been really close friends during junior high and high school, we used to talk on the phone all the time, and we shared the most personal thing in the world to either of us – our writing. I could have never forgotten him.

We both aspired to be writers. We both went on to do something completely different with our lives, while keeping our love of expressing ourselves in writing — he in the form of poetry, and me in the form of prose.

We both went on to experience physical problems that changed our lives in ways we never anticipated. With me, it was my legs. With him, it was his vision. And still, we both found ways to have happy, meaningful lives.

The funny thing is, Mike and I didn’t go to any of the same schools. We didn’t even live in the same city. We met in 9th grade when we both were selected for the all-state chorus. There were four of us from my junior high who were selected and went together. We were all sopranos. We all sat together in that huge group of strangers for rehearsals and the performance.

We were in the last row of sopranos, and right behind us were the tenors and basses. There was a young man sitting right behind us, and somehow one of the girls I was with picked-up on the fact that he was by himself. That was Norene, and true to her beautiful spirit, she turned around and introduced herself, and drew that young man into our group for the rest of time. We all became fast friends that weekend.

We all shared a love of singing. Eventually, we all joined the same youth church group, and we remained close through high school. Eventually, our lives took us into different directions and different places, until years later, when we found each other again on Facebook. To this day, I enjoy reading some of his current poetry, which he sometimes posts online.

While going through my books this week, I came across a notebook I had in high school, where I wrote poems from age 14 through 18. Now, I admit, looking back on them, that most of them were just plain dreadful, but hey, I was just a kid.

In my old notebook, I came across this poem that I wrote on October 18, 1981 (for Mike’s birthday the next day) while sitting, watching a fire burn in the fireplace on a chilly October evening.

It brought back such good memories of two friends who shared their writing with each other. I decided to share it with “vintage” friends (you notice I didn’t say “old” friends.) Even after all the years, Mike is still my October kind of friend.

An October Kind of Friend (Written for Mike)

Bleak October, cold and gray,
Thy quiet nights and whispy days
Made my soul lain-back and weary,
Quiet, dim, and all but dreary;

‘Til a tiny flame arose
Into a fire did transpose
And fire turned to blazing roar
And then the flame was seen no more

The fire blaze with warmth and ember
Warmth to last me through September
‘Til October comes again.
You’re my October kind of friend.

-JMT 10/18/1981