Important things in our lives slip away if we aren't very careful

It's funny how things that become integral parts of our lives eventually disappear and are all but forgotten.

During the 1980s, a decade in which I lived as a single man for all but the first three weeks, I used to talk on the phone a great deal.

As I moved from state to state -- I lived in six different ones in the '80s -- I kept in touch with my friends mostly by telephone. We were sort of past writing letters by then and it would be another decade before we had e-mail.

The friend I spent more time talking with than anyone else was Bill Madden, who became my friend in 1973 when we were both taking drama classes at Northern Virginia Community College. In fact, we were in a play together, the only play I ever did in which I had the lead.

It was a fun play, a long one-act show called "Black Comedy," and Bill had a small part at the end. We had actually gotten to know each other earlier in the quarter, when I had to direct one act of Woody Allen's "Play it Again Sam" for another class. Bill played Bogart.

We hung out a lot together for the next few years, and when I got engaged in 1974 and married in '75, the three of us went a lot of places together.

When we started moving to different places around the country for our respective careers, we kept in touch on the phone. We generally talked once a week, and we would alternate initiating the calls. When we talked it was usually for an hour or two, and they were some of the best conversations I ever had with friends.

Bill on the radio

We even had our traditions. Both of us were raised on television and both of us were pop culture aficionados. Each year when TV Guide came out with its issue previewing the new season, Bill and I would go through it night by night and make our predictions for which shows would succeed and which would fail.

He was much better at it than I was. He was also a better writer than I was, particularly when it came to comedy. Bill had a real talent for seeing the humor in situations and being able to express it.

The phone conversations lasted through the '80s and into the '90s, although with him on the East Coast and me in California, it wasn't always easy to schedule them.

In more recent years, Bill was the producer and sidekick on a radio talk show, originally called "Street Smart" and later just "The Jim Metcalf Show."  Metcalf is a little too conservative for my taste, but I still enjoy listening occasionally just to hear my friend.

It has been some years since I actually saw Bill face to face, but he is and always will be one of the two best friends I ever had. It amazes me when I think our friendship started 41 years ago and has lasted through the decades.

I miss the phone calls, but both of us have significant others in our lives.

The funniest thing of all is that for the last three and a half years, we have lived less than 300 miles apart on Interstate 75, and we haven't gotten together.

I hope we can change that soon.