I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?

That is the final line of a great movie that was made when I was already an adult, but it captured my group of friends perfectly. I really have never had better friends than I had then.

That is what makes it so cool that we still get together every chance we can. Every year if we can make it happen, but always at least every other year.

It’s no small feat! The group consists of ten of us — eight who have been together since we actually were twelve years old and younger, one who came to our school in the tenth grade and one who moved into town our senior year. Those ten men live in Northern California, Tucson, Dallas, Memphis, Nashville, Tampa, Charlotte and Baton Rouge. We try to spread the wealth on where we congregate, but in reality the guys out west get screwed. And they still show up!

A majority of the group went on a senior trip together to celebrate graduating high school. A smaller subset went to Europe to celebrate graduating college. One of the guys married the wrong woman and disappeared from our lives for a while. When he figured out his mistake he was welcomed back with open arms, no questions asked. We have gathered single, with girlfriends, with wives, with children, and with new wives. Our wives love each other and have exhibited remarkable patience hearing the same stories for thirty-five years. To our credit the stories don’t change too much as we get older.

This week we met in North Carolina for our “NC-17” trip. Conveniently, Peggy and I were already in North Carolina for a work trip, so it worked out great for us. The gang member that lives near Charlotte was our host, and for the first time in a few years all ten of us were able to make it. It was just incredible. We played golf (mostly poorly), we went sightseeing (and are now mostly poorer), we rode on the lake, we ate, we drank, and we reveled in old memories and old friendships.

We ended the last evening with a screening of the movie that one of my friends is producing called “Beautifully Broken”. It’s the movie that Peggy was filming in Baton Rouge last Easter. It is almost finished now and we got to see it and see the story that our friends lived through. And cry and rejoice with them in the happy ending.

Three doctors, an engineer, a financial planner, a retired Air Force Colonel, a horticulturist, an athletic director, an insurance underwriter, and a COO. Seven different colleges. All from the same small town in Louisiana but now all over the country.

I know I am getting older, and I realize how rare it is to have a group of friends like this. I can’t wait for the next time we all get together.