Glad you got a chance to meet up, Hoosier! I have great memories of meeting Npod on a trip to Atlanta last year. Unlike you and Harris, Neal and I had met only briefly once before in Chicago --actually similar to the meetup you and I had, Hoosier. Now, I consider Neal a genuine friend.
I know it's said often, but I'll say it again. Even more than the beautiful pipes and the delicious tobacco and the contemplative moments, it's the friendships I've developed as a result of smoking a pipe that have been, by far, the most valuable and important to me.
I have been a hard-working, committed family man for virtually my entire adult life. As a result, the majority of my real, lasting friendships had been developed early in life, with a few more along the way at work and church. Valued, certainly, but after becoming an empty nester at 56 and a retiree at 57, developing more friendships wasn't something I sought, but am damned glad I did. As a result of friendships developed through the pipe hobby, I've spent more time with male friends in the last two years than in the previous 30 combined. I can't tell you how important that's been during this transition period. What's really cool is the wide variety of backgrounds we pipe smokers come from. Among my pipe smoking friends are retirees, market researchers, HVAC guys, lawyers, doctors, veterinarians, woodworkers, teachers, I.T consultants, professors, pipe carvers, pastors, missionaries, Muslims, chefs, tobacconists, white and blue collar, conservatives and liberals, straight and gay, and the list goes on and on. As a result, conversations are endless and always interesting.
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