The Beginning of the End?

The weirdest thing happened today. The hub and I got word that one of our college best friends had died in early December. We Googled all over the place and couldn't find out why he died, but knowing Marcel the way we did, it could have been any number of things. Its really sad, though, to know that a man who has seen my boobs - actually feasted his eyes on my glorious girls - is gone and their image with him!

Let me explain. Right after college and our wedding, the hub got a job at a national park in New Jersey (yes, they exist). Leaving our friends was really hard and we did lots of partying to stave off the sad. One day, we went to Marcel's house for a bar-b-que. We went to the store to get the food and, because we thought it was a really good idea we all wore our rabbit heads (pink hoods with floppy ears made from blanket material) from our Halloween costumes.

We totally cracked ourselves up by buying a huge bag of carrots and when the checker picked them up to ring up the price we mumbled "Be careful with that". The bagger lost it. Cracked up the checker, too... Anyway, back at Marcel's place, we were goofing around in the backyard, taking lots of pictures when I decided to stand on my head. My hub went behind me and, grabbing my ankles, plopped his chin on my feet. Thinking we were adorable, we grinned for the camera Marcel was holding.

Now, at the time, I rarely wore a bra. Really, I only needed one to keep the gals down. So I was upside down and my shirt flopped down over my face. The girls were free and flapping in the breeze. Marcel was a gentleman and didn't snap a picture, but he started laughing. When I tried to right myself I couldn't free my legs from my hub's hands. He was unaware of the ladies' escape and kept holding my ankles and grinning. Marcel started laughing so hard he was snorting.

I finally got covered up and upright but we couldn't stop laughing and ended up going for burgers. I'll never forget him snorting and flailing around with bar-b-que tools. I have so many memories like that. Lots of them involve laughing so hard Marcel snorted. One involves he and I dry humping each other on a dance floor to annoy this really obnoxious woman. It worked. He snorted.

We lost touch over the years. Now and again we'd connect, exchange a card or an email but we never heard him snort again. He was good guy. He worked hard to promote causes he believed in. Like safe sex. Once he gave our kids (they were grown) a bunch of condoms and lube; Marcel wasn't subtle - I got a little foam "happy penis". And he took me to see Cher. I'm not a fan, but I had fun with him.

There's a memorial on Saturday in San Francisco. We're going to go to say goodbye. Its weird when your friends start dying off. Although I ever would have pegged Marcel as the first of our old group to go. His laugh was too big. And he snorted - like when he saw my boobs.