A few weeks ago I wrote a little posting about my old friend, Michael, and our lost friendship. It was a good feeling to reestablish that friendship after a long absence, but it also feels good to begin mending fences on several sides of this little plot of farmland I call my life.
Another old friend, Ozzie, is now part of that mending process. Soon after the first fence was repaired and new foundations were poured to hopefully ensure a strong friendship for years to come, the old posts and rails of an aging fence rotted with bad feelings and resentment were torn down to make way for yet another newer and stronger fence.
He texted me out of the blue and we scheduled a dinner date together. When we met up on an extremely hot June afternoon we gave each other a strong hug and began tearing down the old fence with a few apologies over past encounters. Just like any large scale remodeling project, it was awkward in trying to figure out where to begin, but we soon got the hang of it as we walked the heated streets to find a place that didn't have its windows thrown open to the hot exhaust fumes of the afternoon rushhour.
We finally settled on Garcas Trading Company, a wine & cheese bar with a nice selection of dinner entrees. We shared a bottle of wine, some cheese samples and a nice chicken entree, all the while trying to catch up on the past three years that had been lost. Both some good and bad things had happened in both our lives, but it seemed that my side of the conversation always travelled back to the negative aspects of my life. That only made me drink a little more and worked in loosening up for a more comfortable conversation as we headed to our next destination.
We headed off to Stir, formerly The Post Bar (full circle, considering that this blog was originally intended to be about the Post and the 2 people who urged me in taking on the blog in the first place are the 2 friend whom I have been writing about in recent weeks). We both had some heavy duty fruity drinks that seemed to be filled with alcohol. After 2 of those and then working on a beer, the conversation reverted back to the days of The Post and we shared stories and laughs of the people and events that still echoed within the now refurbished bar.
Another fence-mending project has begun. I feel that the materials and workmanship going into this project are just as strong as the my previous fence-mending project. Three years have passed since the fence collapsed and lay untouched. Now, with experience and history to guide us, I'm confident that all fences will be stronger than before and will last for years to come.
