This is a photograph, a window to the past…

It’s the five couples who spent a glorious (pre-Hurricane Ian) week at the Outer Banks, courtesy of the dude who is fourth from the left, Vinnie, and his wife Janine (to the right of Vinnie).

The “boys” in this photo — if you’ll indulge me for a moment and allow me to use the term “boys” for guys who are pushing 60 — met at college 40 years ago. D2, LJ, Thin Man, Ricky C and Donger (16 Candles reference). We’re all over the map now – Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Annapolis, West Palm. But we all managed to carve out a week together at the beach. And it was glorious. The weather was perfect, but the weather was inconsequential. It was about reconnecting, recollecting, laughing, dancing like the fools we are.

Got a glimmer in his eye, seems to say, “This is what I’ll miss after I die

And this is what I’ll miss about being alive…

Vinnie has offered up his vacation place nearly every September for the past dozen or so years, but there were few takers. Too many responsibilities, too many kids’ practices, not enough time. But this year was different. Most of us are empty nesters now, or pretty darn close. That’s part of the equation. The other part is realizing that time and tide wait for no man. Some of our peers from college have already passed away. Our good friend Ned had a stroke. Our buddy Art was scheduled to be on this OBX trip, but he had to have emergency surgery two weeks before.

Now time’s the undefeated, the heavyweight champ

Laughing in his face, as he dance likе Sugar Ray

Used to be “c’mon c’mon” but now “no mas, no mas”

The older we get, the more we treasure our time together. Pushing back against the tide may be a fool’s errand, but we’re just the fools for the job.