Da Count - Trio of Friends

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, this past weekend, my buddies Steve and Pete were in Hamilton, visiting as part of our continued Rush concert ritual. Together, we've been geeky Rush fans for most of our lives -- from the time that we used to play air drums, bass and guitar in Pete's basement to eventually growing up and saving up cash to see the band in concert. The three of us have gone to see Rush on four tours now -- twice in Ottawa and twice in Toronto.

Like the band-mates from Rush (Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart) who have been playing together for over 30 years, our friendship spans over three decades.

There was a line from Stephen King's novella "The Body" in which the narrator, who is reminiscing about one summer during his childhood writes something along the lines of: "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve; Jesus does anyone?" That always comes to mind when I think about how blessed I am not only to have such a wonderful group of friends surrounding me, but also to be enriched with friendships like Pete and Steve that span almost my entire life.

This blurry picture of the three of us taken at about 3 or so in the morning after the Rush concert last Saturday is the only relatively decent recent photo that I have of us three (I took it just after we finished watching the special feature video on the DVD version of Rush's latest album Snakes & Arrows -- yes, the title is a brilliant combination of the children's game Snakes and Ladders and Hamlet's famous soliloquy about the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" -- is it any wonder that a geek like me has been enthralled with the combined talents of this band for so long?).

Sure, it's a blurry picture -- but sometimes defining friendship, particularly an evolving friendship between three guys that span over three decades and three corners of the province of Ontario (we each live in Hamilton, Ottawa and Sudbury) is a blurry thing.

I just know one thing. Steve, Pete, entre nous (just between us), I love you guys. And that's why this week I'm counting our unique little trio and occasional nerdfests.