I had a long talk with a dear and good old friend over lunch yesterday and I thoroughly enjoyed him and our conversation.  When I say old I mean old as in long time and not age.  Although he might be a little old as in age too, that is not the point of this article and if ever talked about at all, it will be better if saved for another time and some other article.  If you know him, don’t tell him that I mentioned that he might be old because he might take offense.  It’s not likely that he would because he is a pretty easygoing guy; But he might.

Oh, that’s right.  You couldn’t tell him what I said even if you wanted to because I haven’t told you his name.  Well, his name is Burton NMN NLN.  NMN meaning no middle name and NLN meaning no last name; at least, neither of which that I am willing to share with you in this article.  But still, just in case that you might know him, don’t tell him that I said that he might be a little old.

Anyway, it had been a really long time since I had seen Burt until I attended a couple of the reunions that are held every two years for our particular close-knit group.  I saw him at the first reunion that I attended and I also saw him at this most recent one.  He was back in Denver again about a week after the second reunion and that is when, by pure coincidence, I saw him again.  That is when we had lunch together.  I told him that we could eat anywhere that he would like to eat and that it would be my treat.  I had forgotten that he was a vegetarian.  He took me to this vegetarian restaurant in South Denver and he had what amounted to a vegetarian club sandwich combo and lavender lemonade.

Since he is a vegetarian and I am not and he had obviously had this sandwich and the lavender lemonade before and I had no idea what it would taste like, let alone what anything else on the menu would taste like, guess what I ordered?  I ordered a vegetarian club sandwich combo and lavender lemonade.  Did you guess right?  I told him that I didn’t really like that vegetarian stuff that we had but the way that he was looking at my plate and how well I had cleaned it (it was much cleaner than his), I finally had to break down and tell him the truth; it was really pretty good.

I don’t know if it was our friendship and the warm and casual conversation that we had as we were catching up on things and the people that we mutually know that made the food so good but it was good.  My friend’s wife, who is a wonderful woman and his college sweetheart, whom he has been married to for xx years is a perfect match for him.  She is definitely his soul mate.  I have no doubt that she has a lot to do with him being the man that he is now; for most of us and most of the time our wife or significant other does. But before I move on, perhaps I should be clear about the ‘xx’ years I mentioned.  Although I don’t think that many people would assume that I mean 20 years, I want to categorically state that that is not what I mean.  ‘XX’ simply means that I am not going to reveal the exact number of years that they have been married.  Again, he is an easygoing guy and likely wouldn’t mind but…

We did not talk much about politics but we did talk about it.  So here we are again where readers of this post might ask, well if you didn’t talk about politics and this blog is supposed to be a political blog, why is this article in here?  Well, with the things that are going on in government right now, especially at the federal level, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, you are likely completely exhausted and need a breather.  Besides, if you read this blog regularly, you know that I have strayed from ‘strictly politics’ before and written about things like sports and country music.  So, this article is a little bit about politics and a lot about things that make you smile…and laugh.  My good friend Burt made me smile and laugh…a lot.  And that was refreshing, healthy, and good for the soul.  So in light of the chaotic political situation in Washington right now, especially in the White House, we all could use a little bit of that right about now, don’t you think?

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line