What's a decade among friends?

Got together with my Font friends today for pizza, Quiznos, and gift exchange. Talk turned, as usual, to the past. Ten years ago we bonded on the staff of Hofstra's literary magazine. I'm known as keeper of the lore, but recently, as we've grown into lives distinctly our own: magazine production, TV writing, fiction editing, computer consulting, marriage, parenthood, I find myself no longer dwelling on the past. Life is all in how you look at it. I choose to believe each new moment is a new chance to create.

In other words, I'm finally learning what they've tried to teach me all along.

Here's what I gave and what I got:

My philosopher friend from Wisconsin gave us all cheddar. I love it when a cheese comes together. I gave him The Philosopher at the End of the Universe: Philosophy Explained Through Science Fiction Films.

My fellow Superman and comedy fan John gave me the Eddie Murphy movie Coming to America on DVD:

"The place is so big, the choices so infinite. Where will we find a woman suitable for a king?"

"Queens."

I gave him How to Be a Superhero by Doctor Metropolis.

My friend and Green Bay Packers fan, who ocasionally comments here as Obsidian Xerxes and who last year gave me a Dardevil action figure, this year gave me a Street Fighter II Ryu figure (Ha Do Ken!) and a DVR of his January 2005 appearance on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? I gave him The Physics of Football by Timothy Gay, Ph.D, with foreword by Bill Bellichick.

My friend the production assistant on Gilmore Girls promised us West Coast-only items from the Warner Bros. Studio store. My original gift for her, a Lost 2006 calendar, went on backorder, so I checked her Amazon Wish List and picked The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.

It hasn't felt like ten years and hopefully it never will.