35 years is a long time. Think about where you were 35 years ago. I was a 16 year old kid working at Hardees in Mandan, North Dakota. The woman who would become my wife was my supervisor (we used to sneak in the meat cooler and make out. I can never look at a meat cooler in a restaurant and not smile) and my coworker and best buddy at the time was Dave Leingang. Dave graduated and went right into the Navy. I remember partying all the night the day before he left and I was the one who drove him to the bus to wave goodbye and send him on his way. Aside from a couple minute visit a year or so later, I have not seen Dave in about 35 years. This weekend we finally got to have that long overdue reunion when he made his way to Colorado for a skydiving trip.

You never know who is going to be a lifelong friend. Life has so many changes, professionally and geographically and it amazes me where we end up. It is amazing you can go years without seeing people and immediately fall right into that comfort zone. Dave and my wife Kyla grew up going to elementary school together since first grade so it was great to have an old family friend show up who my wife and I both, knew and loved and had history with. It may have been 3 and half decades since we sat down together but it felt like time had stood still. We ended up keeping Dave for the entire weekend and had an absolute blast together doing next to nothing. There will be many more visits in our future. There is nothing like connecting with old friends.

Brian Gary, TSM
Brian Gary, TSM
loading...

I don’t have many things that have lasted over 30 years. I think my wife, a stuffed animal, some Elvis records, an REO Speedwagon t-shirt, The Good Morning Guys and Dave are some of the very few that have made it that long. There is that old saying “make new friends but keep the old, the new are silver the old are gold”. That is so true. Make sure you take the time to reach out and polish up your gold. You probably have old friends you haven’t hooked up with a long time. Do it today.

More From K99