I recently relocated to Longmont.  As exciting and a dream come true as it is to be living at the base of Long's Peak, there is a deep fullness, but also a profound sadness that rattles in my bones because my close friends are far away.  I will now miss birthdays, milestones, pints of beer, grand dinners, and a myriad of other triumphs and tragedies yet still to be discovered.

As the years click by, I am not sure who I will become without sharing a zip code with these folks.  But, I do know that without each one of them in my life these past several years, I would have remained unchanged in the perpetuity.   These fine and lovely friends' unique voices changed me and my wife.  Their embrace, their knowing of our story brought life to places where our bodies betrayed us.  Now, driving the unfamiliar streets of a lonely, new town, I am happy because these special eight know me, they know my wife, they know our loss, they know our lament, they know our dreams, and I know them.

Just as the roasting and boiling of bones produces a tiny dollop of rich, flavorful marrowy goodness, so have my friends and I through the roasting and boiling of our stories, a similar marrow was found...love...which we all enjoyed during our short time together.