|
THE EDO's
We were the four musketeers, four close friends, four true friends, friends you
only make while growing up. Doug, Gary, Joel and me (and my brother Dan).
It all started when I first met the invisible-ink squirting Doug Keller in 7th grade, at Southwoods Jr. High School,
in Syosset. We were two skinny, little kids that got chased around at lunchtime recess by the bigger kids. We figured
if we taught each other how to slap-fight we may somehow survive this life together. Even back then Doug was a
lot of fun to hang out with, if you know him today then you can only imagine what he was like when we had zero
responsibility.
Then in 10th grade, at Syosset High School, while barely coasting through Mr. Jack Taylor's Biology class, I became
friends with Miswah Berman (better know to everyone as Gary). Gary and I kept failing the biology tests that Mr.
Taylor gave, so we would stay late after school with a few other classmates to take make-up tests. After four or
five of these tests I think Gary and I figured out we were the best ones to cheat off of and we quickly became
friends.
Enter Joel Pollack, he had just moved from to Syosset from Huntington and was on a mission. Joel was in my homeroom
or right next door, I really can't remember, and he started his crusade of making friends (at least in Syosset).
All it took was one party where Joel "lost his cookies" ( as we said back then) and Doug Gary and Joel
and I clicked, we were the best of friends, even if we always had to drag him out of his bedroom window at 11:00
at night to go out. We even figured out how to rig his bedroom window so the house alarm wouldn't go off if we
opened his window at night, at that point we owned him.
By that time, my brother Dan, who I know since I'm 14 months old, was a sophomore in the school, and we've been
close friends for as long back as I can remember. Couple that with Doug's sister Suzy, Joel's sister Jill (Hi Jill),
not to mention Rich who I still call Ricky, and, well, we had quiet a cliche going. Add George Thorogood, Jimmy
Spilane, Brian Herman, Neil Kipperman, Johnny Magano, Danny Pompa, Phil Gutterman, Chris Olson, Raju Scharma, Rich
Karp, George Grecco (and Paul) and even Matt Rosen, and we started to believe that we were cool. Next we started
hanging out with some chicks, enter Randi Rosenstein, Andrea Kass, Stacey Harriman, Jamie Golub, Sheryl Abrams,
Laura Cambria, and lets not forget Michelle Topple. We had a lot of fun and I'm trying not leave anyone out but
you know how it was, the crowd got pretty big. We even started calling ourselves the EDO's. (E-Hall Drop Outs,
because all our lockers where in a cluster in E-Hall, and we always cut class to hang out, always, remember guys?).
(hey, how about Debbie, Dana, & Jill from Hicksville, Joel always kept us in touch with them)
Well, Joel, Doug, Gary and I were the oldest, by one grade, and we went off to college. When we came home after
our first year we couldn't wait to hang out the EDO's again and we had a blast as dates at the prom with all our
friends graduating that year. All our friendships where cast in stone.
It's said that a true friend is one that is there through thick and thin, that is always there in your heart, that
you don't need to talk to everyday. A true friendship stands the test of time, and is always there. Joel and I
no longer talked on the phone everyday, or spend every weekend hanging out, but Joel was one of my true friends,
one that I valued very much. Knowing that Joel has passed away really hurts. I still keep thinking that I haven't
heard form Joel in a while and I should give him a call, and then reality sets in, and I need to take a breath.
That morning last summer when Gary called me at like 7:00 am to tell me that "Joel passed away last night",
it hit me like a ton of bricks, and emotions overcame me. By the time the funeral came about I figured I was all
cried out,…but boy was I mistaken. Just being around Doug, Gary, and my brother Dan, and Joel not being there got
the stream of tears flowing all over again. I remember seeing Gary just standing up at the podium crying, unable
to deliver his eulogy, and thinking to myself what a powerful statement Gary was making, powerful stuff. I think
the only thing that helped me (and maybe all of us) get through that day was all the support I got from all the
friends there, friends that I was crying and hugging with that I haven't seen since in such a long time. Joel always
knew how to get us all together!
Like everyone else, I never got to say goodbye, and I was waiting, and still am, for my friends to get married,
have kids (like me) and come hang out and spend our lives getting older.
After the accident, my then 3 year old son Maxx and I planted a tree in the backyard in memory of Joel (Maxx still
refers to it as the Joel tree!) And to this day, when Maxx wakes me at 4:00 in the morning to come lay with him,
I sometimes lay there in his bed as he drifts off to sleep, wide awake, looking up at the ceiling, thinking about
whether Joel is looking down on us, and I can't help but get a tear in my eye.
This website has been great for me, helping remember all the good times we've had and the e-mail from some of our
old friends has been really great, I can't wait to see everyone again. This website will help us all keep in touch,
the way Joel always was able to do.
I missed Joel the day I heard the terrible news and miss him as much today!
Adam
|
