Throwback Thursday: "The Four Musketeers"

by Skip Cohen

Maybe it's the pandemic or just aging, but there are times when NOTHING beats looking at old photographs. It doesn't get any better than the walk I'm taking down Memory Lane right now.

I recently found the proof-print above, and I have no idea where we were or why, but it redefines friendship, love, and support - Four best friends, Terry Deglau, Tony Corbell, me and Don Blair. I've looked at it so often since finding it that I think I might have shared it many years ago in another blog post. 

They were the three musketeers, and then I came along in 1987 when I joined Hasselblad. It was shot in 1994, although I don't know who the photographer was. I'm guessing it was Don's son Gary or one his other "Numbs." Don used to refer to all of us as "Numb Nuts," and I still have a polo shirt embroidered with "Numb 1," I wear with great pride.

I remember a bunch of us at Don's wife Donna's funeral. We had all gone back to the church, where lunch was served to at least 200 people. Six of us were sitting with Don when a buddy of his walked by, and he yelled, "Hey, Numb Nuts!" In unison, we all turned and said, "What!"
 
Don passed away in 2004 and Terry last year, and it's hard to find the words to explain how much I miss them both. But here's the most wonderful thing about the business we're in - we give people, including ourselves, the ability to take intangible moments and turn them into memories we can hold in our hands and cherish for a lifetime.

I've often referred to myself as one of the luckiest guys in this industry...those three knuckleheads above are a big part of why I feel so blessed. Between Tony and me, I'm betting we could do a Don Blair and Terry Deglau story marathon that would go on for days!

Take the time today and go off in search of a few old photographs. You'll be amazed at how uplifting, even though sometimes bittersweet, those memories will be.

​Happy Throwback Thursday!

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