The origin of friendships never ceases to amaze me. I still have close friends from elementary, middle and high school who still hang out regularly, our wives have become friends, and have kids who are now friends. These are still some of my very best friends now that we've moved into our 50's...a group of about 12 of us.
Then there are the friends I've made outside of this circle of friends, many who scoff at me when I tell them how close I am to the guys from as far back as elementary school....a couple from my college days, a few former co-workers, and from my 12 step group=
Then there are the people I've met on the Internet. It blows me away that I have a few people from my online footprint I consider as close as those 12 guys from my childhood...a couple I've only ever seen face to face a handful of times, but who have helped me through a couple of the most trying times in my life...the loss of my father and my brother being 2 of those times. I have a couple of those friendship as a result of my membership on this site, a couple of whom I will go so far as to say I love like family.
So it saddens me to think we will lose this place to come to chat, joke, share common likes, some dislikes, to talk about movies, even politics...as futile as it was... but mostly to share about our beloved Redskins, or not so beloved these days.
The friends I've made here have carried over to other forms of social media, and I have the phone number of a few of you guys, and gals to call or text when the need occurs. But I will miss all of you here, on our forum, brought together by a love of one common entity.
I do know a free platform we can use that won't be as fancy, won't be the same, won't be available to all since some of you won't use Facebook, but I just started a group I hope many will join, just to keep contact.
I won't have any rules in the group other than maintaining the same respect you all have given me over the years. All are welcome. My name is Brian Schurman, feel free to send me a FB friend request. I hope to see you there.
If you're not on FB or Twitter, and we may never speak again...as with most things in life, many go their separate ways, we lose touch, we wonder what ever happened to that guy or gal...in the digital age it makes it easier to keep up with at least some...however for those here who I will lose touch, I will miss you all! God Bless you all! Thank you for telling me what I needed to hear, not necessarily what I wanted to hear on many occasions, thanks for your support and respect...thanks for being a part of something genuinely special!
I will walk away from this site a better man, I can assure you all of that. Oh...and I'm glad I didn't wait until the season was over to come back!