On Wednesday a friend from high school had a heart attack and died.
He was 46 year old and I have not seen him in years. Not even on Facebook. It makes you feel old and start wondering about your own mortality when something like that happens.
Carlton Gaines was one of the funniest, most popular guys I knew. He was a great football player, I think he set the state record for most carries in a season. He still has the school record for touchdowns and yards in a season that he set as a senior.
He went to WVU for a while and then James Madison. I think he settled in Hagerstown after that. I don’t know much about him after that.
So what happens to friends? And the usual topic of how people lose touch. We are not kids anymore, not as a cliche, but most of the guys I know from back then are family men nearing 50 years old. If anyone wants to see an old friend, I guess it is time.
As someone wrote on Facebook in the condolences, “Make that call you have been putting off.” I will add, make that trip, see your friends. Make the effort.