No Roof Racks On A Hearse (The Friday Ficks S6 E18)

“You’ll never amount to anything. You’re all a bunch of dead-end kids.”

That was the verdict - delivered by a friend’s mother during a Friday night high school poker

game. And just like that, we became the DEKs: the Dead End Kids.

We were teammates, friends, and - nearly 50 years later - remain connected.

Did the DEKs amount to anything? Depends on your scoreboard. Careers across law enforcement, medicine, manufacturing, communications, agriculture, banking, real estate, energy, and law would suggest we did just fine.

But here’s the better question: who gets to define “amounting to anything”?

If the measure is accumulation - more stuff, bigger homes, storage units filled with things we

rarely touch - then sure, many are winning that game. Load it up. Strap a Thule to the roof. Keep collecting.

But none of it makes the trip when the ride ends.

What I’ve learned is simple: a life filled with possessions and empty of connection is a bad

trade.

High-mountaineer Lito Tejada-Flores once said,

“You never climb the same mountain twice…

memory rebuilds the mountain, changes the weather, retells the jokes.”

That’s what the DEKs have done for decades. Road trips. Shared meals. Stories. Applauding

our children's wins. Laughter that somehow gets better with time. The miles may separate us, but the bond doesn’t weaken - it deepens.

So, did we amount to anything? I don’t know. I’m not sure it matters.

What I do know is this: those friendships have made me rich in ways no balance sheet could

ever capture. No Thule or storage unit required. No expiration date attached.

Choose what truly counts because when the final ride comes…there are no roof racks on a

hearse.

Own the day. Own the weekend.

Carl