Jim, the first day that I met you, I was focused on your green sweatshirt, your hair, and your quiet demeanor, which I quickly relayed to Caitlin H. after spotting you on the lunchline in seventh grade. I believe I said something along the lines of "Did you see that cute guy in the lunch line?! Ohmigod!" [I was such a valley girl then]. A fire drill later on had us standing in line next to each other... on the same day as the 7th grade Halloween dance.
Chance coincidence? I don't think so, not anymore. That day marked the very first in six years of friendship, a friendship I have held closer to me than so many others.
After asking Jessica P., the way most shy 7th graders did, to "ask you out" for me, we went to that dance together. And the next one. And the next one. We "dated" each other for almost a year...I remember seeing Armageddon together, with my father and mother sitting a few rows in front of us, and you making jokes about the two lesbians sitting in the front row so that I wouldn't cry anymore when the astronauts in the shuttles died, or when Liv Tyler was saying goodbye to her onscreen father, Bruce Willis, for the final time. I remember watching my only episode of Star Trek in your room, going to eat Mexican on your birthday, where I wouldn't eat anything except the bread, and where I gave you Happy Gilmore on video [how sad it made me when I found out you later gave it to Number 2!] I remember making fun of a slowly driving old lady while sitting in the back of your car, and the two of us playing with the ribbon from your gifts and making fun of the names of the Teletubby's. And Mike H.'s bar mitzvah, where we danced like dorks and made complete adolescent fools of ourselves.
Of course, our "relationship" hit a snag...namely you, a girl, and some dancing at a dance that I couldn't go to. Lol I remember how mad I was at you for dancing with Priscilla! You would think that you had gone a cheated on me or something. And when I "broke up" with you, you're response of "OK" made me so flustered that I wouldn't speak to you for two weeks. God, how I remember that.
But we did speak again, and again, and soon we were in high school, and our group of friends shifted dramatically. We had disgusting lunch table discussions, discussed how many children Kara had [and how the two of you left your child in an airport to fend for itself...hee]. We went through betrayals, gossip, back stabbers...our own personal soap opera. [Except, of course, we didn't get paid]. We dealt with trying to date again, with it not working out, with you having Meghan break up with me the same week I was going to break up with you so that you wouldn't hurt my feelings.
And now, we are in college, and you are working, and we are studying, and talking online and on the phone when we have a chance. And its not the same as it was, but it seems to be working all right.
And of course, our friendship still has its snags, like the email you sent a few days ago, telling me how much my complaining about my grades and my living situation and my desire to act out were taking a toll on you, and making you not want to be around me. You helped me wake up, and to move on, and to put it behind me. And unlike the 7th grade, there was no anger, and there was no flustered me demanding a two week reprieve from you.
Because the truth is, when I read that letter, you made my heart stop. For a few precious, eternal moments, I thought that I had messed up, that I had lost you forever. Because the truth is Jim, you are one of the greatest friends I have ever had. I remember how you took me out to see Monsters Inc. after my surgery, and didn't mind that I had to drag that stupid pillow around with me to rest my arm on. I think of the many times we've driven together, to Cortney's, to Cracker Barrel, to a diner in the middle of nowhere after you commit a hit-and-run on a teenage girl's purse, playing CD's and letting 80's music blare while we talk. I think of the time we've spent in your house, listening to records, and laughing as we recite along with your soundtrack from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The time you've come over to mine and we've put on CD's and danced, danced like we were living large in the 80's and that actual dance moves were a thing of the past [hee].
I remember the laughter, the tears, the fights, the recoveries, the dating, the dating other people, the conversations, and the moments where we say nothing to each other and just sit there in our own company. Those are six years worth of memories which I wouldn't trade for anything, and in which, I can honestly [and completely platonically] say that I love you, and you mean the world to me. You are the brother I would have had if Patrick turned out right genetically [jk. Wait until Thing 2 reads that].
And I don't think I tell you just how much I appreciate you.
So there you go. I just did.
NEXT SPREAD THE LOVE ENTRY: LAURIE, MY ADVISOR, MY SISTER, MY BEST FRIEND
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