old friends

every once in a great while, the Lord just gives you a blessing that you weren't expecting. About a month ago a good Dr. in my church gave me a gift of tickets to the Bulls game versus the Pacers for this past Saturday. Cool thing is he had four tickets and gave them to my good friend Gonzo (Steve Sugai) so that we (and our wives - Sara and Lynne) could go together. Gonzo and I go back a long way. He and Lynne went with me to the teen convention in November of 1995 before I had even moved from Missouri to B/N. They were great sponsors and became lifelong friends to Sara and I. Gonzo and I love talking trash about the Cubs/Reds and Bulls/Pacers...and anything else we can think of. But there is a real brotherhood there and although we don't get to connect as much (their kids are young and ours are old)...Lynne and Gonzo remain good friends. How good? We can hotwire a hotel room in Chicago and turn the Saturday game into a Friday overnight! And that's what we did.

We hit town around 4:00 p.m. and checked into the hotel (Indigo or something like that) and just - you know - kinda lounged around and relaxed. By 5:00 we were in a cab to Gibson's (great steak) and just a walk around town a little. It is good for this city boy to be in the city every once in a while...I just like all the people. Anyway, after supper we headed up to the top of the Hancock building (like the 92nd floor or something) to get a great view of the city on all sides. Now my fear of heights doesn't really like this too much...but the view is incredible. Anyway, back at the hotel we spent some time sitting in bar kind of watching sports and mostly talking. IT was great to catch up. The next day we walked around town, chilled out, saw a game (yes the bulls beat the pacers, but the pacers scored over 90 which Gonzo had bet me $5 they wouldn't) and made it home by 5:00 on Saturday. It was a great weekend trip.

Old friendships are the ones I treasure most...the kind you don't have to work on, the kind you should work harder at, the kind that always pick up where you left off.