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A very close and longtime friend celebrated his 48th birthday last Sunday along with his sister, another longtime friend. These people are like family. Their Mom was actually married to my Dad's cousin back in the sixties and that is how we all met. We generally refer to each other as "cousins" even though we share no blood. It doesn't matter to me as I would kill or die for any of them as quickly as I would my own family, which brings me to the point of this story.

I know that Kenny would risk his life for me because he did so in 1978. On a hot summer day we joined some friends to go swimming in the Beardsley Canal near Coffe and 7th Standard roads. We had been jumping in the canal from the south side of the 7th Standard bridge and dropping through the elevation weir on the north side. One time when I dropped off the wier something didn't go right. I didn't get deep enough to hit the current that would shoot us under the back current and downstream. I was trapped in what is like a horizontal vortex and couldn't get out. I tried hurling myself up and diving deep but just couldn't do it. I tried to swim to the wier abutment to try and climb out but would always get sucked back under water. It woulod take me down then shoot me back up where I could grab a quick breath, but I was tiring quickly. I will always remember looking up and seeing the ten or so people standing on the wier just watching me and I will always remember the roar of the water.

I knew I was not going to make it. I simply didn't have the strength to free myself. One time, as I resurfaced, I shouted for help. It felt like a shout anyway, then I gave up. I resolved to hold my breath till I couldn't then I was going to die. I was completely at peace. There was no fear of anything, no life flashing before my eyes, no thoughts of who I would miss, but just a calm I had never known nor have I known since.

Then, all of the sudden it was quiet and I was foating on my back in calm water and someone was pulling me by the arm then I was on the bank. I looked up and it was Kenny. He was looking at me with these big, scared eyes and asking if I was OK. He had jumped in on top of me and pushed down into the current that shot me out into the canal.

I lay there naked as my shorts had been ripped off by the water. I didn't even realize it until some guy handed them to me. I was too tired to even put them on so some girl did it for me. Kenny got me up and into his truck and took me home. After he left I lay there in the floor of the hallway under the cooler where, for the first time in my life, I pondered my mortality and the nature of true friendship. With no concern that he may wind up in the same pickle I was in, he jumped in and literally saved my life. I have never forgotten that act. I owe him my life and anything he ever wants or needs from me is his without hesitation or condition. All I have and am I owe to my old friend. We were eighteen that day and had already been buddies since we were about six. We remain close to this day and anyone, anywhere would be fortunate to have a friend as selfless as Kenny.

I don't remember making the decision not to waste my life back then, but I am sure that somewhere inside me, I made the promise, and my life has been anything but wasted or boring. Many of the fun, dangerous and/or illegal activities I found myself in since that day have been shared with Kenny. From a whisky drunk mud bogging session off Norris road in 1982 to sharing the beauty and enjoyment of riding our Harleys to Reno in 2005 to his birthday party last weened at Ethyl's, we have remained family, friends and partners in crime.

We both fought our personal demons at times in our lives, but we both emerged, not always unscathed, on the downhill side. Neither of us are rich or famous, but we are both doing OK and are both, in certain circles anyway, well known or, at least, notorious.

Since that day in 1978 I have fathered and raised three daughters, been blessed with a stepdaughter and thre grandsons, one of which is a college football star and will very likely play in the NFL. I have managed to hang on to a career job(29 years and counting)that has served me well and that I enjoy doing. I have won championships racing Motocross and playing baseball and I have become a proficient guitarist. I am outspoken and, for the most part, respected for that. I am a published poet and an avid writer on many topics. I am educated, well read and friendly and I have no enemies. I have been beaten, busted and broken, but have always jumped back into life without hesitation.

No, my life has not been wasted or boring and I think that makes Kenny proud of me, and he being one of the few people on earth whos opinion of me matters, that makes ME very happy!

I know that Kenny occasionally thinks of that day as I do, but I doubt he feels the heroic status he still has in my heart and mind, and I doubt he considers the lasting effect he had on my life, but I consider it everytime I see him.

Thanks Kenny, It's been a great ride!