Lifetime Best Friends

This story starts in an arena in Williams Lake just over 20 years ago. I joined the Chuck’s Auto Supply team for my first ever season of minor hockey and one of my teammates was Eric Halpin. Eric and I became friends and that is still the case to this day. We were neighbours for almost a decade and then roommates for our first year of Uni. After that first year of school our lives started to take us in different directions. I left to finish my degree at UBC and Eric moved to Calgary. We kept in touch via the internet and whenever we got the chance to visit we would pick up right where we left off. I remained in Vancouver after my schooling was done (with a minor failed experiment in Alberta) and Eric crossed the Atlantic and started to carve out a life for himself in Berlin, Germany. He has been there for about 6 years now and it was just the past week that I finally got a chance to visit him there. I’ve mentioned the term temporary best friend several times in previous posts, but in this case that definitely does not apply. After two decades of friendship we get along just as well now as when I first laced up the skates alongside him in ’90. I had a great time during my week in Berlin. I got the chance to meet some of his circle of friends and catch-up on all his European adventures. He will be ditching the German winter to spend 5 months living in Morocco where I’m sure more hilarity will ensue. Not lost in all of this is Eric’s not so little brother Kevin. Kevin outgrew all of us and now stands 6’5” with a big grizzly beard and long curly 70s style hair. His life has taken him all over the place from New York to India and now he has been settled in Berlin for the past few years. He has started his own promotions company named Shameless Limitless. The posters for his events can be seen all over the city and were even recognized by the guide that took me on a walking tour of the street art in Berlin. I wasn’t in town long enough to attend one of his events, so I guess I can add that to the list of reasons to go back again sometime soon. I’d like to thank the Halpins (and their other roommate Josh) for letting me stay with them.