Monday morning breakfast

Tom

Breakfast is my favorite meal and Monday has become one of my favorite days of the week because it's a day off.

So what could make it any better? How about the company you keep?

In my case, I'm happy to say the "value added" comes from getting together with my longtime friend, Tom. He and I have been able to meet at least semi-regularly for breakfast for the past several months, each time choosing a different restaurant in this city filled with so many great choices.

Today it was O'Connor's in Multnomah Village. I made the trip to the west side, where he lives, after he'd graciously come over to the east side for several meals.

Tom and I go back to college. We met in our senior year when I began dating someone who was a roommate of Tom's girlfriend, Elsa. That "someone" was Lori. And Tom married Elsa, too, the same year Lori and I became husband and wife.

Tom and Elsa moved to Portland the year after we did and, through a happy set of circumstances, we've lived just a few miles apart from each other for most of our time in Portland. Through the years, we've shared many of life's big moments: parenthood, becoming homeowners and taxpayers, putting our kids through college, surviving a parent's death.

Heck, the first dog we owned together even gave birth to theirs. (Brandy and Bruno were a mix of German Shepherd and something else and both were known for amazingly strong jaws, as they thought nothing of running around with a tree branch in their mouth.)

We've each raised three kids (they have two daughters and a son, while we have two boys and a girl) and now Tom and Elsa are preparing for the marriage of their younger daughter, Alana. Their first, Erika, married several years ago and has given them two grandchildren.

No one among our friends knows us as well as Tom and Elsa. We all grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and survived our Catholic upbringings. I treasure their friendship, their generosity (their annual backyard barbecue is always a summer highlight) and their positive outlook on life. Tom's been a great poker buddy and golfing companion and now a regular breakfast partner.

Our conversations meander from family and work to politics and leisure and travel and back to family again. And all this over a delicious meal to start the day. Already looking forward to the next get-together. Friends don't come any better than Tom.