Quote:
Originally Posted by massphatness
Thems was the days, Greg.
It's become harder to stay connected in a world where it's increasingly easy to disconnect. My experience over the years has been that this hobby brings us together and binds us for a time, but as people's lives move on, sometimes their interest in the cigar world wanes. When that happens, there's a natural drift that takes place. I've been fortunate to meet a number of guys through these forums whom I can truly call a friend -- irrespective of whether or not we share a cigar ever again. But when I take an honest look, there's a lot less of those guys than I would have said five or six years ago; not because I've lost friends, but because my definition of a friend changed. There's a whole host of guys I consider to be cigar buddies, but just a handful I would count as true friends.
There's one guy I think about a lot, and that's Al. We used to talk a few times a week, and I did truly consider him a friend. I miss having that guy around the boards and as someone to just shoot the sh!t with. Others have drifted in and out of my orbit over the years, but if I'm honest, most were pleasant acquaintances rather than real friends. They'd drop off the board for a bit (or longer than a bit), and my interactions with them would drop off as well.
Those MassHole banter days were fun times. I must still have a couple hundred of those MassHole stickers dunng made up for us. I hope my cigar buddies from those days are doing well - or resting peacefully. I'd still happily share a smoke with them all.
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That makes a lot of sense Vin. I can only add that although I never met Al in person, he is the first person that reached out to me when my wife and I were up in Gardner for what was to be a three week stay (and I was going to get to go to your HERF) but got cut short after only a few days when my wife's mother tragically died in a house fire back home. So we had to saddle up and head back home. Al called me on the phone and when I answered he said hey man I don't even know what to say, and I told him he didn't have to say anything, the act of calling was enough to let me know how he felt. Al spent a lot of time trying to make people think he was a tough guy (and maybe he was) but he also had a golden heart inside his chest too!!!!