i had a high school friend he liked to hunt muskrats and rabbits and he liked to draw and he liked to listen to ian gillan with black sabbath but one night outside a canton ohio pool hall something transpired he stuck a man with a screwdriver stole his car and he hauled he did three years in tico reformatory and the rumors of what went on in there were most chilling horror stories not long after he was set free he left his parent s house at 1am and wrapped his car around a tree and i was in pacific grove california when i got the call i talked with his mother and his father and his brothers i talked to them all about his love for heavy metal his love for hunting and how good he could draw and i laid down next to my girlfriend deena like a child i bawled one thanksgiving when i was pretty young me and my dad got into it over something and we fought and he won and i went running barefoot off into the snow and i sought refuge at a neighbor s house and later that night i came home and in the midst of all the agonies and hardness i felt somehow the wonder of life always prevails and in the midst of all the awkwardness all my growing pains somehow the wonder of life always remains every day i get out and i walk every day i get on the phone with someone and i talk it s good to have friends who love you care and understand who have your back and don t judge you don t criticize you or make demands every day for miles i walk along the monterey pines the marina to aquatic park and i look at the marin headlands tiburon sausalito angel island from the end of fishing pier oh my i couldn t ask for more my eyes couldn t ever want for more and oh my i watch the seagulls fly for half my life i ve watched the ferry boats and the barges go by it s february it ll be the 10th year anniversary of when i lost a friend to cancer and there s times when i still can t believe it but i m so grateful for all the time we got to spend in pescadero point reyes mendocino san rafael and fairfax though i m reminded of her passing especially when it rains somehow the wonder of life always remains and every christmas i get pictures of her growing daughter and her face looks more and more like her mother spent this thanksgiving in seat 21e of an sas airplane flying over the baltic and the north sea on my way home from stockholm and malmo and gottenburg and copenhagen all i could think of in my seat was getting back home to my girlfriend she d be away until saturday or sunday down in orange county with her family for the holiday but it s alright i can t cry can t complain because i m just about to land in a 737 airplane looking down at the city of martinez and the carkinas strait and that san francisco pacific ocean and north bay and at the golden gate and oakland bay bridges and the many boats that sail and the wonder of life always prevails1