Remarkable and poignant. This is a beautiful evocation of youth, timelessness and friendship. How I wish I had had a friend like Al in my own youth, which was much less carefree than what you depict.

The interesting thing about this is that the experiences you relate with your best friend are so real and true-to-life. There is no gauzy-eyed romanticizing and embellishing of events to make them appear as you might want have wanted them to. It’s all true, and memory serves you well when you have such idyllic days to remember, especially those golden days of summer at the campground.