Way Back Then

You were 17 when we first met. Shy and quiet.  Not much to say to me.  You were the brother  Of a boyfriend I didn’t need.   I’ve always liked you better.  Even now when I am 80  and you are old too.  You make me feel  Important and cared for.  You’ve taken in my husband  and me and accepted us unconditionally.  We’re a part of your family now.  I love your wife, children  and grandchildren.  Sometimes I hang onto
our youth and our friendship  way back then.  We have mutual. respect, and love.  And I hang onto what  you said to me when I was Thirty two.  We were drinking at another  of our community parties.  I go back to that day sometimes when I was young.  You looked into  my unlined drunken face and said, “Damn you’re good lookin!”. The words still make me smile.

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