Thought I would share with this community a FB post I put up early this afternoon.
Just had a terrific hour-long conversation with Rick, an old friend and roommate from my Southern California days. He was my best man when Gail and I were married in 1982. Explaining what triggered him to call me is a bit convoluted but interesting.
He and his older brother were born, raised, and went to high school in Visalia, California. One of his brother's friends at high school was someone who would go on to become one of the premier actors of his generation, Kevin Costner. Over the years Rick has talked on the phone with Kevin several times, and he has nothing but good things to say about him.
Anyway, both Rick and I were huge LA Dodgers fans back in late '70's and early '80's. I grew up listening to Dodgers announcer Vin Scully on radio and TV broadcasts, and though Rick was originally from north-central California, once he moved south and was my roommate we would listen to Scully call Dodgers games on the radio.
Fast forward to today.
Vin Scully is finally retiring after 67 (that's right, SIXTY-SEVEN!) years as a Hall of Fame broadcaster, and the team has set aside this weekend to honor Vinny for his many years of service. Tonight at Dodger Stadium there will be a special ceremony for him before the game. Among the special speakers are Bob Costas, and the mayor of Los Angeles, and the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, and Dodgers Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax...and...Kevin Costner, who was the star of two famous baseball movies, "Field Of Dreams" and "Bull Durham." He also starred in two well-known Westerns, "Silverado" and "Dances With Wolves," as well as many more prominent films. .
Rick hears about Costner's involvement today. He has Kevin's phone number, so on a lark he calls him, and gets through. Costner tells him he's in his back yard right now working on the speech, which he feels very honored to give. They talk for a few minutes.
When the call is over, Rick is so excited at his connection to this major Southern California event that he starts to think about who he can call that would share his excitement. And among a few others, he thinks of...me. So we talk for an hour (it's probably been three or four years since we last talked) about various things, old times, current times, getting older, retirement plans. Just stuff. We talked just like we did nearly 40 years ago as roommates.
It is wonderful to have such friends. I cannot emphasize enough the value of friendships that span long distances and many years. Those kinds of friendships require personal investment, but their cost is repaid many times over. I am thankful to Rick for being such a friend, and to the Lord for bringing him into my life so long ago.
http://m.mlb.com/dodgers/tickets/info/vin-scully-weekend
