A Cold Beer and a Friend

It’s odd the way something so simple and minute can bring back such a powerful memory. A few nights back I found myself on the back porch with a buddy just having beer after a hard day of classes and homework. There was nothing all that significant about this because it’s a pretty normal activity for my friends and me, but something was different this time.
As I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes, for I was exhausted from my busy day, I felt myself drifting away, but not into a sleep and nothing like a day dream. Instead I felt myself going back in time; back to the house of a childhood and life long friend. My friends and I spent most of our high school years at this house. Especially in the winter because we were able to have bonfires. More nights than I can count I found myself sitting at Corey’s surrounded by my best friends drinking a beer and watching the fire.
I closed my eyes deep in thought yet not thinking at all. Even though it was hot and muggy on my porch I felt the cold winter air on my face and could smell wood burning in the fire. And as I went back there in my mind I realized for the first time that in my mind was the only way I could ever go back there. Not to Corey’s house in general but to those times. High school was over before I realized it had really begun. All of my friends have now dispersed and gone their separate ways, never to return to Corey’s house again. But even as a new chapter in my life begins, I can not help but close my eyes every once in a while and reread the previous chapter.