Birthdays & History (The Laflam Chapter)

Last Saturday night I went to the 30th birthday party of my long-time friend, Dylan Laflam. I met him when he was twelve. He’s the son of a man who taught me what friendship meant. Yep, Gary Laflam from Walden – my neighbor for nearly ten years.

Dylan’s the kind of guy who you want to be around at a party – or in your life, for that matter – because he’s alive and living. He’s busy making a fine life for himself and his family in Greensboro Bend – even rubber-coating the chains on his kids’ swing set to protect their hands! Hmm, I guess he’s rebelling from his Old Man’s “the more danger, the better” approach, huh?

For those unaware, Dylan grew up in a cabin built from the timbers his father hand-hewed. They had (and Gary still has) solar power, minimal water, and a nose for elegant simplicity. If you don’t have it, make it. If you can’t make it, barter with a neighbor who can. But whatever path you choose, have fun, damn it.

One of the modern conveniences Dylan probably would have appreciated growing up with was…well…stairs. Because the ladders Gary built to get to their cabin’s basement and the upstairs proved to be rather punishing on the young Dylan who tumbled down them more than a few times in his youth. [Editor’s note: Stop there, make no further inferences about the falls and the possible side affects because this is trying to be a feel-good piece.]

Dylan’s also an adventurous hunter. Notice I didn’t say “successful.” Sure, he’s got his share of wild game (a big hunk of which sits in my freezer) but he’s got even better stories. As a teenager, Dylan was known to startle fellow hunters by his propensity to literally chase deer through the woods. Yes, he’d run after the deer – up and down hills, over brooks and even to the next town if it tickled his fancy.

At his 30th birthday party, I was telling his dad that the difference in Dylan and my age is the same as the difference between Dylan and my daughter’s age – nearly seventeen years.

“It’s been great watching him grow up,” I told Gary.

To which Gary gave me one of his short and very much to the point responses: “Having a history is great, isn’t it?”

Indeed.

Here’s to the Laflams and the history and memories we share.