It is nice now and then to her from an old friend. In my case, the old friend was really old and claimed to be 96. Of course this was next to impossible because I hardly know anyone that has been around that long even in my 83 years of existence.
As I think back, to my father and his friends, many of whom were in their 60s and possibly 70s, they all seemed terribly ancient to me, and now here I am, older than most of them and paying the usual price for it — loss of memory, inability to get up and down from low chairs and sofas, virtually impossible to climb stairs or anything else for that matter. Yet here I am!
The old friend who called me, Len Cravath, a guy that I worked with some 50 to 60 years ago when we both worked for a then famous electronic distributor, named Cramer electronics in Boston. At the time, Len was the purchasing agent for this company and I managed the retail sales department. Of course we had many disputes over what items to carry and how much but somehow we always worked that out and the business continued in its long successful time in the marketplace.
We hadn’t spoken, in many years and to suddenly receive a phone call out of the blue from this person made me think “wow,” I must have meant more to him than even I thought and for him to take the time to call me after all these years just to see how I was doing made me feel more important than the many other things that come along in my life, including my several winning elections, and successful and not so successful businesses of my own.
Of course like most old-timers do when they reminisce, I had to admit to my failing memory, my physical limitations such as rising from a low chair or sofa or getting out of a small automobile, but if you are in the 80s or 90s bracket, you know exactly to what I am referring.
In any event hearing the lively voice of someone that you knew so many years ago and is still apparently in good health, it felt good to be in contact with such a person and I would advise anyone reading this article to look through your old worn out phone directories and see if there is anyone still alive that might enjoy hearing from you the way I enjoyed hearing from Len Cravath.
