Throwback Thursday: Happiness is a Six Pound Lobster

Me, Kayce and Bob: Diving off Catalina Island (I used the Popeye tool in Photoshop!)

by Skip Cohen

Happiness is having a buddy call you and say, "I need your help - they screwed up the order for my guy at the market and sent him big lobsters rather than a bunch of small ones. They're big ones - you want to cook tonight?"

That's all it took - a couple of hours later, Bob Rose and Kayce Baker were at the house, and the water was boiling. They were six pounds each, and we also cooked a few smaller ones. But the real fun of Throwback Thursday is about great memories.

I hate always referring to the pandemic, but it has created time to look back and cherish a level of freedom we took for granted. In my friendship with Bob, it's been nothing but adventures. After finding the picture above, I needed to call him to confirm my facts - over the years; those six-pounders had doubled in size - just like stories fishermen tell.

Bob reminded me the claws were so thick we had to wrap them in towels and beat them with a sledgehammer. Kayce had found a recipe for cooking larger lobsters, resulting in an incredibly good dinner. We had anticipated the meat to be tough but prepared the right way; they were perfect.

Bob and I had known each other for years, but the friendship really launched when I needed a dive buddy for a trip to Bonaire. Somebody told me Bob liked to dive, and that was it *poof* a friendship that's gone on for over twenty-five years was launched.

After I hung up the phone, Sheila noticed a sort of disturbed/distant look on my face...it's what I'm calling the "Pandemic Blues." It's all about bittersweet memories. I know this will sound pretty sappy, but I miss time with Bob and Kayce. 

Here's my point - Throwback Thursday is the perfect way to stay focused on things that make you smile. And while at times it might send me into the "Pandemic Blues," missing friends and that exceptional freedom to be a knucklehead, nothing beats a look in the rearview mirror.

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