After my arrest, conviction, and 7 year prison stint back in 1978, I returned briefly back to Bushwick in 1985 unable to find Ernie. None of the old friends knew or heard anything about whatever became of Ernie. He vanished off the face of the Earth. Once I left Bushwick and went on to live my life in Queens, including White Plains with Carol, Haverstraw with Nikki, and then Spring Valley with Shirley I had lost all contact with Ernie. He was my best friend on the planet. I didnt know if he was dead or alive. I was single now and living in my own apartment in Haverstraw.
Before this point in time, Nikki and I had gotten back together, moved into a house with her and her mother, before we decided to tie the knot and get married. We were married for three years before we both realized that marriage was not going to work out. We decided it was just better to get a divorce and just stay friends. We're still friends today here in 2021. I moved into my own place to continue my life. I became married to work.
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(Wedding shot: My Best Man Little Aaron, Papi, Me, Angel Jr., Pastor Colimon and Sharhan)
I've had so many miracles come my way in this life. This is one of the best of them! I began spending time on-line playing games on Facebook during my down time. I'd visit the profiles of friends and family from time to time. Late one evening probably 3am I was still up and on-line scrolling through Facebook posts. I couldn't sleep for some reason, so I just stayed on-line waiting for sleep to finally call me. For some reason I decided that I would put Ernie's name in the search window out of curiosity. I came across a million guys with the same name as Ernie, who I knew as Emilio Ernesto Acosta. The search was fruitless. Too many people with that name, and none of them resembled Ernie. Then, just as I was about to call it quits, I came across a face that looked somewhat familiar. I wasn't sure it was him though, but he kind of resembled Ernie. The thirty-plus years of not seeing him made it tough.
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It wasn't until I went into his friends section that I saw his brothers and sisters there and realized that I had found him. Ernie was alive! We hadn't seen or heard from each other in over thirty years. Seeing his photo had me in tears. I cried hard. I immediately sent him a Facebook message telling him to call me as soon as possible, attaching my phone number to the message. I turned off my laptop after waiting to hear from him. It was way late by then and finally I was sleepy but super elated at the same time.
