I like photographs. I came across one the other day in an old box of pictures that made me smile. It was of three friends I’ve known since grade school. The Weldon twins, Richard and David, and Jack Davis. They were sitting at my family’s dining room table. I can’t recall what we were talking about. It’s been over fifty years, after all. Something silly I’m sure, or perhaps profound, growing in wisdom as the guys were imitating that classic pose, See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil. What I do recall is the happy feeling it brings in seeing that dining room table and remembering all the dear friends and family who gathered around it - the Christmas Eve celebrations, birthday gatherings and monopoly games.
The Weldon’s and Jack are gone now. We didn’t see each other often in our older adult years, although we did keep in touch via social media and email. The Weldon’s lived across the street, and Jack spent a lot of time at our house during our high school years. He adored my Mom. All three were a good friend to my Mother, brother and me; and each hold a special place in my heart. I’m reminded today would be Jack’s 74th birthday.
There’s something else that happened earlier today that brought Richard and David vividly to mind. I played a vinyl album I hadn’t listened to for a long, long while. The soundtrack from Paint Your Wagon. Why I decided on that album I don’t know. Maybe subconsciously it was that photo of the Weldon’s and Jack, and the dining room, and another time that holds a sweet memory. I was returning home from a 3 month hospital stay in a full body cast. My Mother moved the dining room table to fit in a hospital bed for me.
It would take a little time for me to adjust and adapt and get around. Say, before I could go to the movies.
Paint Your Wagon was being shown in theaters at the time. I may have been feeling a little down in the dumps about not being able to see it.
Then one evening, to my great amazement Richard and David and their friend Ken Feingold spontaneously started singing, dancing and acting out scenes from the Clint Eastwood musical. In my dining room, in front of the hospital bed. It was joyous to see, not only delighting me, but my Mom and other friends there, too! The Weldon boys weren’t small fellows. They were big, husky football players, so to see them move with such agility, choreographing their own dance steps and singing Hand Me Down That Can of Beans, well, let me just say it was way better than going to a movie !
Photographs and memories can tug at your heart. I’m glad I came across that picture of Richard and David and Jack. I’m glad I chose to play the Paint Your Wagon soundtrack today. I’m grateful for the moments of my life, and all those who have been part of it.
