A Long Overdue Apology
From my earliest memory of grade school through graduation through high school, my friend Burton was always right by my side. Witty, fun, reliable, Burt was always nearby when I needed a friend. We lost track of each other when I left for college, but we reconnected briefly when he got married to a girl from our class.
Before I go on, there’s a few things to get out into the open. For someone with all the right qualities, Burt had a terrible childhood. His amazingly loving mother, who I had the pleasure of knowing for only a short time, passed away when he and his brother were still quite young. Their father spiraled. Looking back, it was amazing the boys held their lives together at all, and astonishing to see how they thrived despite the seemingly insurmountable odds.
As for me, I was your basic garden variety nobody. I was that kid that wasn’t cool enough to hang with the “in crowd” and wasn’t weird or stoned enough to hang with the “out crowd”. In a small Nebraska town, at any one time I had a handful of friends, which would then become enemies, then friends again, repeating endlessly. God, I hated high school. But a few friends like Burt were always there with a kind word and a shoulder to lean on. And liquor, so much liquor!
After his wedding, we lost touch for quite some time. When we finally reconnected, Burt explained how his marriage didn’t…
