Renewing old friendships

A few months ago, I joined a site called Classmates.com, for the sole purpose of reconnecting with a dear old friend with whom I'd lost contact, Steve J.

It worked! Took about three months for a response, but Steve put an email in my inbox on the site yesterday! Man, am I jazzed! Steve and I were very close friends from Toll Jr. High and Hoover High, in Glendale, back in the early '70's up to our young adult years around 1980 or so. He got married, moved to West L.A., and we lost touch.
He sounded really happy to hear from me, and I feel likewise. Steve and I used to have a traditional pastime which we called the "Late Evening Sojourn." We would load our pipes, and around 10:00 PM we would start walking, from his house on Thompson Av in Glendale, cover about 3 miles eastward along Glenoaks Bl. until we hit either Kenilworth Av. or Pacific Av. We would then turn left, and head into the ritzy areas in the hills above Hoover High. Sometimes we would cut through the athletic field, reminiscing about our days as students there. Eventually we'd end up at Brand Park, and make our way back down to Glenoaks via Winchester Av, and conclude the walk. Our total mileage was somewhere around 6-8 miles. During these walks, we would discuss everything under the sun, and solve all the world's problems.

We would always hit the 7-Eleven on Glenoaks and Concord, about a third of the way into the walk, and always get the same things: Romona burritos, Beef & Bean or Bean & Cheese, with mustard on top, and a Coke.

God, I miss those nights. I still get nostalgic at the aroma of Balkan Sobranie, Dunhill Elizabethan, or Captain Black Gold tobaccos.

Steve if you read this, here's to more sojourns in our future. The world needs our problem solving now more than ever!

Aloha!