It is what I was thinking about … I never noticed it when I first saw the movie when I was younger … but as I got older, I realized I did have that one last evening or afternoon when I just said something like ‘bye’ or ‘see you later’ like it was another normal day and we both didn’t realize it was the last time we said goodbye to each other as best childhood friends.

We continued to live in the same town but we both went to different high schools later. I skipped a grade, he stayed back, I went to high school earlier, we both went different ways, different group of friends and basically different lives. We still saw each other once in a while but we never acknowledged each other in the same way ever again. Every time we saw each other, it felt like meeting that long lost cousin or half brother that you have to say hello to but don’t really know. One of the saddest things I think about often now. I went off to see the world, worked, travelled lots, lived life with my wife but we never had kids … he went off with a girl from town, they had several kids, he worked steady for a while but then went deep in alcoholism and later drugs and now he is a shadow of the person I knew.

The ending of ‘Stand By Me’ is gut wrenching because once you get old enough, you realize just how gut wrenching it all is because we’ve all experienced it.