Beachcombing -- Friends

Jim Gray, a retired judge for the Superior Court of Orange County, publishes a weekly online message called 2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY. A recent topic was friends.

When we think about how times have passed,
And how your life has gone so fast,
What are the things in life that last?
FRIENDS.

You have some special times through and through,
Most all were happy but some were blue,
What are the things that hold most true?
FRIENDS.

Life’s a journey, and we all are blessed
To live in our world and find happiness,
To find our spirit and meet the test
In a friendly word we do invest.

But when we think about how time has passed
And how your life has gone so fast,
What are the things in life that last?
FRIENDS!

In our lifetime we learn that a friend is someone who consistently adds value to our lives – not because they have to, but because they choose to. Friendship is built on trust, respect, kindness and shared experiences – more than on perfect agreement or constant contact.

On Facebook, it says that I have more than a thousand friends, but it isn’t so. Most of them asked to be my friend and I accepted because of the many acquaintances that we have in common. Online friend requests emanating from scantily clad, young females are rejected because I doubt their motivation.

The friendships that I value include my high school classmates who have joined our monthly Zoom sessions, co-workers, business clients, neighbors, and a few that I’ve met through membership and weekly luncheons in the Executives Association of Long Beach and the Rotary Club of Long Beach.

Some of my best buddies have passed away, so I’m now focused on the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson who is credited with saying: “The only way to have a friend is to be one.”

It seems like it was just yesterday, but 26 years ago John McNaughton came into the Beeler & Associates offices above the Fish Tale Restaurant to pick up an advertisement that we had prepared for Stricklin Family Mortuary. At that time, John was the publisher of the Los Altos Neighbor and wanted to know if I’d like to buy his 13,000 circulation newspaper. John was going to take a field representative job with newly elected Fourth District Councilman Dennis Carroll.

“Sure,” was my response, having just completed a mega-dollar Census 2000 campaign for the City of Long Beach. Our team had the journalism experience of producing numerous newsletters for multiple clients, plus the computer tools for handling the layout and production.

In July 2000 our Cal State Fullerton intern, Elizabeth Pose, was named editor, B&A vice president and graphics guru Stacey Francis became the editor-in-chief and I evolved to publisher.

Soon we had Steve Propes on board doing his scanner column, John Tosdal selling advertising and Kirt Ramirez becoming our journalism intern. We also changed the name to Beachcomber.

The circulation was increased to 33,000 to cover East Long Beach. We then added freelance writers, interns and contributing columnists to fill the pages, which grew to 24 pages to handle the surge in advertisements that followed.

It has been a fun ride and we’ve made many more friends. I want to thank the advertisers who have supported us as well as the team of writers, photographers, interns, carriers and other staff who have kept our bi-weekly tabloid going for so long.

I am still looking for someone who can eventually take over the reins of this business so that I can have the time to ... make more friends.

publisher@beachcomber.news