Legends of the Fall (of 89)

During the summer of 1989, I had just graduated high school, and was eagerly anticipating starting Albany in the fall. I was working 80hrs a week at a cafe in lower Manhattan, and didn't take a day off all summer. I was a machine, completely focused on saving as much as possible, so that I can pay my tuition and have some thing left over to live on. I didn't have time for girls, though 2 cute girls at the cafe both sent me love notes (I was a machine - and didn't need girls, family, or friends.) I was an existentialist at the age of 17, after reading The Stranger by Camus.
I received a letter from my roommate to be, a kid from Long Island. I read the letter, and threw it away. I would not respond to some nice doofus from Suffolk County. After all, I was a machine.
The universe is always listening, and sometimes, God steps in and plays card dealer at the casino of life. In the summer of 1989, this is exactly what God did.
My roommate was the complete opposite of me. He was a suburban kid, that never worked before. He was a great high school wrestler, and a state champion racquetballer . Joe also had a girlfriend he intended to marry, and drove a new Nissan sports car he had received as a 16th birthday gift. He whined and complained. He cried over missing his girlfriend who was attending college at Binghamton. He was blond haired and blue eyed, and light hearted, and wore a cross.
I was a machine. I was determined to do well in college, and get a job, and become rich. I disliked him the first day I met him. He listened to all the 80's hair bands like Winger, Poison, Guns and Roses. I was into Public Enemy. Something happened, and some how after a year together, we really bonded and I learned about the other side. We were only roommates Freshman year, Joe transferred to Binghamton to be with his girlfriend, with whom he broke up shortly thereafter. I never saw him again. I never had a better roommate or friend the entire time I was in college.
3 weeks ago I get an email from Joe, who found me on facebook, we got together at a Fridays in Melville. It was Saturday afternoon, typical for July, sweltering, sticky heat. It had been 18 years since we saw each other. And after 3 hours, we didn't want to leave the bar. It was like seeing my long lost brother. Joe is now a chiropractor, on his second marriage, and is experiencing a spiritual awakening. He looks better now than he did in college. Once again the universe has brought us together, this time we just don't know why....yet. But there's always a reason. There's always a season. And there will always be the Fall of 1989.