Those Were The Days My friends

Last night, I had dinner with five childhood friends of mine. I went to kindergarten with most of them (there was an AM and PM session) and then we grew up together until we graduated high school . They were all at our 30th high school reunion dinner in 2001. A chance meeting with one of them as I was boarding a plane from Memphis back to Newark a few years ago, got the two of us to try and organize a mini reunion once a year and we've pretty successful in doing that the last few years.
It's really weird to think that we've known each other almost 55 years! 55 years!
 What strikes me about our get togethers is first of all, the deep feelings that abound. Handshakes don't cut it anymore. Hugs are in. No one brags about what they do, or how much they make, or how pretty their wife and/or grand kids are. There are at any time, multiple  and loud conversations going on . The topics go from " is so and so dead?", to "when's the last time you saw her?', quickly followed by "and how does she look?".
Funny stories about how on one wonderful lunchtime on the playground one of them forever dispatched the bully that was bothering us all are followed by the recollection that one of our eighth grade classmates , Doug, ate his breakfast under the fire escape every morning. It consisted of 2 robust ham and cheese sandwiches on a roll washed down by a quart or two of Boller cola .
That tale was tempered by the fact that Doug had a bastard for a father, which lead to a life of crime, followed by a very early death. The conversation quickly switches to the next memory.
This year's get together is  dampened by the fact that one of our little group has stage 4 lung cancer. It's discussed, but not dwelt on. We know we're getting old. We know each of us is celebrating our 60th birthday sometime this year. We know most of our teachers have passed away. We're aware many classmates are also no longer with us.
But the five of us are committed to meeting annually . Until.