Yeah, there's some history here. When we first met, we were probably more of what
you'd call acquaintances. Briefly living on the same block, riding bikes together
and passing occasionally in the halls of school. It wasn't until we ended up on the
same recreation baseball team, in high school, that a real friendship began to form.
I remember so many things from that time, like when Chris would come over to my
house and we'd spend hours playing wiffle-ball in my back yard (we actually had a
game that we played using a golf sized wiffle to hone our hitting and fielding skills).
I remember his mom buying him a computer and then promptly chewing his butt for
disassembling the thing within a week. We were always taking everything apart. How
else are you going to find out how things work?
Chris quickly became part of the family. Consuming our cheese slices and keeping me
out of much of the trouble I was sure to get into. That's not to say we didn't get into our
share of trouble together. We were once chased off of Weber State Universities campus
for rollerblading. That didn't stop our quest for places to skate. I remember skating down
Center Street, in Bountiful, on our way to meet 2 of the many girls we began to hang out
with as friends (more on this later). Down the road a bit, we again found ourselves on
rollerblading on the campus of a university. This time it was Utah State and we had our
past experiences to protect us. So we spent a couple of hours dodging the campus police
and anyone else who would end our fun prematurely.
What other kind of trouble could two kids get into? How about sneaking out of my
house at night and skulking over to the neighbors house and plugging in my old land
line phone, into an outside jack, and calling 1-900-xxx-xxxx numbers. (Sorry Chris, it
had to be told!) It was funny then, but it's way funnier when we look back on it now.
I also remember a trip to Blacksmith river for a picnic with some friends. I had my
fishing pole and Chris hated fishing. Myself and everyone were trying their hardest to
catch a fish, but nobody could catch anything. Chris asks to borrow my pole and on his
first cast he catches one. Man he has had some lucky streaks. We spent many an hour
playing games on my old Nintendo and my family's computer. We even did some off-
roading together. Remember the time I drove through that huge water puddle and got
water in my distributor and had to climb out on the hood and into the engine because the
water was so deep? Maybe he's not so lucky...
Not surprisingly, Chris and I spent a lot of time chasing girls. I think it began with
the time I locked my keys in my truck during a baseball game. While I was dangling
in the back window of my truck getting my keys, Chris was formulating a plan to get
the phone numbers of the two girls rollerblading down the street. Oh, we got their
numbers, but as fate would have it, those girls were lame. Who knew that girls with
rollerblades could be so boring. Somewhere along the way we met a group of girls from
Davis High and spent countless nights and weekends scouring the county for things to
do. Krissy, Cathy, Melissa, and several other of their friends had us doing things like
movies, strolls through the cemetery, fires in Happy Hollow, climbing a mountainside
to a monument after midnight, driving up the firebreak road in Kaysville on the trail to
the lighted star at Christmas time. That was only the beginning of years of girl chasing.
What I recall often is that Chris and I had an unspoken agreement to introduce the girls
we were dating to the other person and to make sure that we had each other's approval.
This is how I knew I had a true friend. I could tell him anything and as such, so could
he. We both avoided a lot of heartache and girl trouble by watching each others backs.
I made the mistake, once, to let him slip one girl past me. That'll never happen again.
Although, I don't really have to worry about it anymore, since the most recent case (that's
you Karli) has turned out to be a really good catch.
So, we've played together, gotten into trouble together, dated together, partied together,
lived together off and on, and even traded clothes (Chris still wishes he could have a
14 year old pair of Adidas hiking boots I've got in my basement). We've both gone our
separate ways only to end up only a couple of miles away from each other. I'm also
pretty sure it was him missing me that made him move back to Utah from Florida. My
family is his family and his family is my family. After all of this reflecting it feels
strange that we both have kids of our own.
Happy Birthday Christo! I can't wait to see what else life has in store for us together.
Your best friend always,
Justin
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