It's More Fun With Friends
July 24, 2016
In an ocean of the unfamiliar but captivating, we find the familiar and beautiful.
We met up with people from our childhood. We caught up with each other, we shared meals, we boozed and were denied access to classy bars because we were wearing shorts.
Hazel is my wife's sister's batchmate in high school. She is married to Melbourne. No, not to the Australian city.
Melbourne and Aries are boat tour photographers in Paris. They shoot hundreds of portraits a day. Aries and I were high school batchmates.
Melbourne (L) and Aries (R)
Aries is married to Arlyn. She oversees a Château.
Arlyn (right)
Arlyn and Aries prepared quite the spread for us of Pinakbet, shrimp carpaccio and escargot.
Anthony is a software engineer. My wife and Anthony are college buddies.
Anthony has a thing for luxury items. Here he's looking at calfskin shoes.
James is a Master Sergeant in the US Air force. We joined the military at the same time. Obviously we took different paths later. Their daughter, Carmela is a big Eiffel Tower and One Direction fan.
Bettina and James named their son Jesse James. Not after the celebrity, but after James and James' father's first names combined. Jesse James is a handful.
Michel has been living in Paris for more than a decade. He brought James and me to a row of bars along Avenue des Champs-Élysées. None of them let us in because all three of us were wearing shorts. We did find an outdoor cafe/bar to drink and hang out later that night.
Before this pic was taken, James introduced himself to those soldiers in the back... so he can take a selfie with them.
Friends are the family you choose.
