I had the great good fortune a lifetime or so ago, when as a young man I embraced my inner Horace Greeley and went west to the University of Colorado, Boulder for college, to have fallen in with a group of people with whom, more than three decades later, I am still friends.
These friendships, forged over seemingly endless amounts of alcohol, music, food, and conversation as much younger men and women, have endured over time although our in-person interaction with each other has been very limited. Once college ended, we scattered to various parts of the world, and now, as men and women in our early-to-mid fifties, we remain encamped all across these United States. Truthfully, it matters not. For me, the bond made with each of them all those "not a gray hair in my beard or on my head" years ago remains inviolate.
Today, one of those great humans, Dr. Alexander M. Schreiber (a/k/a "Schneedz"), celebrates his birthday. He is one of the most intense human beings I have ever known. He is also one of the best. Alex and I have been friends since he arrived on Farrand Hall's 4th floor in late August 1985 from New Orleans, accompanied by his dad, his kayak paddle, and his Chouinard ice ax, to find that he had been matched with Yours truly, who arrived solo from the State of Concrete Gardens never having been in a kayak and hoping like hell to never find myself in a situation where I would need to avail myself of an ice ax.
Thirty-five years later, I count him among my most valued friends. I hope over the years I have done enough for him to merit being thought of in a similar light.
Happy Birthday, my friend. All the best.
-AK
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