Scott Carrino invited Red and I over to Pompanuck Farm to sit with him while he boils the sap for maple syrup and we share a hot toddy together. This is a tradition of hours, dating  to the Fabulous Old Men’s Club with Scott, me and Paul Moshimer. After the death of Paul, I never had the heart to reconvene the club, but Scott and I resumed our friendship.

Scott loves Red, and pines for his own dog. He is just too busy, he says.

Yesterday, Scott asked if the RISSE refugee kids would like to come to the Sugar House Wednesday and help bring the sap in and I got on the phone with Ali, and its all set. I’m meeting the team when they come into town at the Round House Cafe and buying them lunch, and then we’ll go out to Pompanuck – the team had two retreats there – and Scott will show them how maple syrup is made and boiled and bottled, and each of them will get to take a small jar home with them.

The Sugar House and the boiling of maple syrup is a rich tradition in this part of rural America, and the sap has been running beautifully this year. This is a slice of America the refugee kids have never seen, or perhaps even imagined.

Scott bottles the sap and sells it at the Round House Cafe. Friday, the soccer team is returning to the Mansion to help prepare lunch for the residents, and to trade stories with the residents about each other’s lives.

Many of the refugee children are painfully shy and I will stand with them as they tell their stories. The Mansion residents, who also fear public speaking, want to tell theirs. I think this will be a beautiful coming together of people at the opposite ends of life. Some of the kids were touched by their first encounter, they miss the “grandmas and grandpas” from their home country.Most of them cannot make it into the United States now to join them.

It was good to see Scott again at the Sugar House, and I appreciate his invitation to the refugee children. This will be an important trip for them. Scott is one of my closest friends, yet we haven’t seen much of each other in the past few months. Scott has been insanely busy running his beloved cafe with his wife Lisa. It is a non-stop seven-day a week job.

He works hard every day, all day, and I don’t know how he manages to get the energy to do all he and Lisa do. But there is not much time for friendship, although I enjoy what there is time for.

Scott is a free spirit and I know he loves to teach, write, sing and be at Pompanuck Farm. He rarely gets a chance to do any of those things.

The life of a small business person is never easy, I gather, and the nature of a cafe is especially tiring and wearing. But the cafe is the heart of our downtown and a precious gathering place for so many people.

It is quite an accomplishment, happy and busy in its new home in Hubbard Hall, thanks in part to you people Helping our town keep the cafe was one of the very first acts of the Army Of Good, and it made the difference. We have been on along and enduring journey together.

I was only there for an hour, but we had our toddy and caught up a bit. For me, friendships with men are always fragile and fraught, but Scott and I are going into our fifth year. He lives to take on difficult tasks and  serve people, he has a good heart and a warm soul.

Perhaps it’s time to revive the Fabulous Old Men’s Club, I know a couple of other Fabulous Old Men. Maybe it would remind all of us – especially in Paul’s memory – that friendship is precious and ought not be pushed to the margins of life, where it can wither and fade.