You
have to have friends and the one thing that I have been very lucky with
in my life are the friends I had and their diversity. I've already
written about Albyn, Joe, Ronnie, Chuck, Joan, Addie, Pepe, the Mikes
above, Johnny, Bernie, Jean, Dr K, Nina, etc., all who did different
things in life. I have learned from all of them and regret those I have
lost. Just to give you an idea:

1) Emir--expoter/importer--has 'disappeared'

2) Mike-- Ice skated in shows all over the world --died of AIDS

3) Mafia/movie Mike--movie producer--https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1132049/---died

4) Mike--a teacher who saw only good in everyone--died

5) Gino--bar owner--Comcast ad employee--moved

6) I goofed!!!!

7) John--bartender--host at the Rooftop restaurant--disappeared

8) Dr. Ray Stewart--General Practioner--died

9)
Howard--retired from a Fortune 500 company---and Wally--was in the
chorus of the original "Oklahoma"--a couple for over 50
years--disappeared

10) Perry--art gallery owner--died

For
those who I have marked  'disappeared' I have no idea if they have
moved or died but for whatever reason we lost contact or, as happens, we
moved on.

I
could keep on listing names and telling you about them but, of course,
you want the 'dirt' on the celebrities I have known---sorry but that
will be in the book when I finish it and get it published.

To
me friends are more important than partners, lovers, spouses, or
whatever you call them, and I have heard some people claim these are
their best friends. It didn't work out that way in my case. I would like
to say my lovers were my best friends or my best friends were my lovers
but while I would/will compromise with friends, sometimes bite my
tongue instead of saying something that would hurt a friend it was
different, for me, with lovers.  I would rather have a friend than a
lover but, in either case, things change. People move or die or feel
there is nothing left in the friendship for either and so you find
yourself with a new group.

I
have always been lucky when it came to having friends, people I could
depend upon, people who could depend on me and when I moved to Fort
Lauderdale I found myself a whole new set of friends but in the 33 years
since then of the 10 above only one is still alive that I know of and
there have been many others since then which I will be talking about as
the series progress. I have never forgotten any of my friends and I hope
they haven't forgotten me.

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