These are difficult times this year. My friend in Mt. Shasta has already lost 6 friends that passed on this year already. And he hasn't been feeling well lately. We have climbed mountains together starting with Half Dome (in Yosemite National Park) in August of 1969.
I had just broken up with a girlfriend and he didn't want to have to drive south from a Summer religious retreat with his parents who were having an argument. So, he was just getting ready to enter UCLA then as a Freshman. So, he walked up to me at the Boys Dorm (for single young men during the retreat) and asked me to drive him to Los Angeles because I was traveling alone that time. At first this guy with a Beatles hair cut and harmonicas in a belt around his waist I wondered if this would be a good idea. However, I really didn't want to drive alone all the way to Los Angeles from Mt. Shasta (about a 12 to 14 hour drive then) alone just listening to the radio of my 1968 Camaro by myself.
As we drove along I was 21 and he was 18 and at that age that's a big difference in ages actually because it is the difference between a senior in College and a College Freshman. So, as we drove along I realized he was a mountain climber like me. So, we camped in the climbers campground on the way south in Yosemite National park and then climbed Half Dome the next day then in August 1969. We climbed many mountains after this too sometimes with other friends along the way.
Then later on in the 1980s I was going to India, and Nepal with my wife and children and he was playing music professionally in Switzerland where his mother is from then and he decided to buy a plane ticket to Kathmandu and to meet us there since we would be in India and Nepal several months.
So, he flew in and climbed some mountains and then we all went to Chitwan National Park in the Terai of Nepal next to India where White Rhinos and Tigers and big snakes like Pythons I believe live and my wife and I had a close encounter with a male Rhino but at least it wasn't fatal because it easily could have been. So, we have shared many adventures over the years from climbing Half Dome to Climbing Mt. Shasta to the top to going to Nepal and meeting there for another adventure. He went back many times and became really good on a tabla drum after studying with a Tabla Master in Kathmandu, Nepal.
However, eventually we all get old and 1970 is now 55 years ago so that means I graduated High school in 1966 which means I will have my 60th anniversary from Graduating High school in May of 2026(only about a year from now).
So, being 77 for me and 73 for him is a long way from 1970 or even 1980.
But, so far we have all survived our lives and both have good lives and are amazed at our good luck during our lives.
No ones life is perfect but you can have a pretty good life here in America.
By God's Grace
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