Friends for Life. It’s a 6.

Crammed into the shiny red Mini-Cooper like a circus load of rodeo clowns, the friends set out on the road, “it’s summer, we graduated high school, watch out world, here we come!“. Brown hair driving, blond blowing out open passenger side window, sunglasses singing from the back, freedom came on 4 wheels.

Music and laughter carried them down the tree lined dust dirt road, pull off almost missed, a detour down rutted grass covered trail, destination just begun. Splashing into a clearing, red metal box pulled up to sea salted cottage sitting atop a ridge; there from tiny rooms with a gargantuan view of endless blue, adulthood would begin.

Days of clamming, heels dug deep in the chilled muck of low tide, tanning legs walking the shoreline, they wandered in retrospective anticipation, paths soon to diverge. Life was good, all was possible, future before them… flags unfurling from youth waved wildly in their dreams.