One of Three......

Dave grew up in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. His parents bought a lot and built a Cape Cod home in a new development and Dave moved there as a toddler. There weren't many other homes completed so his family watched as one lot after another sold and homes went up to create a neighborhood.  However, as little David grew up there weren't a lot of kids to play with....yet.

Then one day, as my mother-in-law told the story, a moving truck pulled up to the completed house two doors down....followed by a family car. She watched out the window and crossed her fingers...maybe the newcomers would have a pre-school son that could play with her young boy. The car stopped, the parents got out followed by two girls....and then three boys that appeared to be about the same age as David. Wow! What luck!

So.....she sent Dave out to make new friends....and according to my husband, the triplets promptly "beat him up". And that was the basis of a fast friendship that lasted through grade school, middle school and high school. As Dave often told me....if anything went wrong in the neighborhood everyone knew it was either his fault....or the triplets. (And they were usually correct.)

The friendships grew more distant during college....but all of the triplets were groomsmen in our wedding, December 29, 1967. The photo below shows the beaming groom in the center....his younger brother, Bill, on the left, another very good friend, Gary, on the right....and the triplets surrounding Dave. David, Robert and Ken. My Dave has his left arm around Robert's shoulder. I won't begin to talk about the history of this friendship.....just too many fun memories.

We had a sad email this morning. Robert died over the weekend. How can that be possible? Look at that young, smiling face....his whole adult life just around the corner. And here we are fifty years later and one of the triplets is gone.

We hadn't seen him in years.....but there is still an ache. Tears from both of us this morning.....a hug and a quick remembering. The earth shifts just a little bit....and memories come back. I have a few....Dave has thousands......