Friends

I've just finished reading Donald Miller's book "Blue Like Jazz". Its a great book. If you've ever heard stories about this guy Jesus and thought he sounded like a cool dude, but Christians...well they are sort of hard to get along with sometimes, then this book is for you. If you already think Jesus is a cool dud, but the message has been lost, then this book is for you.

In one chapter of the book, he describes a time in which he was "living with hippies". (pg 207) He says: "I have never experienced a group of people who loved each other more than my hippies in the woods. All of them are tucked so neatly into my memory now...I pull them out when I need to be reminded about goodness, purity and kindness." (pg 208)

He goes on to say: "They asked me what I loved, what I hated, how I felt about this and that...what I daydream about...They loved me like a good novel, like an art film...I did not feel fat or stupid or sloppily dresses...I was never conscious what my hands were doing or whether or not I sounded immature..." (pg 208-9) When he lived with hippies, he forgot about himself and "gained an interest in people outside my own skin. They were greater than movies to me, greater than television." (pg 209, italics mine)

He is describing friends.

I've always believed that I don't select my friends, they are selected for me. I know this because, firstly, these friends may not have been the people I selected myself. I'll admit it. I want to hang with the "cool kids". This never works out for me; I always end up disappointed. Don't get me wrong, my friends are cool, but we are not the ones who always get the prize, the award, the cheerleader/quarterback.

Secondly, each of them is what I call a "low maintenance friends". The kind of friend where I can go two weeks, two months, two years without talking to them and then just pick up like we spoke yesterday. So, I present to you my hippies; my friends. Note: all of them have an alias. If you are one of my friends, see if you can guess who you are. Post a comment with your guess.

Agatha - My speech would not be as colorful toady if it were not for Agatha. She taught me phrases like "man mountain Dean" and "like a big dog". She taught me how to bring 50 empty cardboard boxes home on public transportation while singing the title song from Oklahoma. She was my Ches Goat buddy when she lived in Chicago. She told me where to buy a Bible when I needed one for school. (I still have it, but can't read it - print is too small.) She was heartbroken when I was laid off from the company we worked for. Her alias: Her mother was a victim of breast cancer and when ever I think of her and her mom I think of the following road trip itinerary:

• To Maryland with her and her cat.
• To Florida with her mom
• Back to Maryland by myself
• Back to Chicago with her and her cat

Peter - Working as an intern is tough. You are not really an employee and sometimes you are forgotten. I kept running into him in the copy/printer room and he said "We have to stop meeting like this." "Yes, people will talk." I said. He always came by and chatted with me; he told me later that he had worked for so many years as a contract employee, he understood what is was like to "not be a regular employee". He gave me good advice during a particularly difficult project. We both have a fondness for a certain version of "Amazing Grace". Thanks for the C/S puppet show. I use it when I have to describe a difficult computing concept. He told me "Its OK, now we are even" after I had a bad night while visiting him and his wife. His alias: He and his wife just went fishing and had a spectacular catch.

Joseph - I worked with Peter and Joseph. Joseph was always calm and collected in meetings. Me, I would go off, but him, never. It was a great lesson. He was the best prof-reader I knew while I was the worst. He calls me when he is in the neighborhood and we go out for a beer or lunch. I just missed him recently, I wasn't home when he called. Too bad, it would have been fun to catch up on old times. His alias: he now works in real estate. Think burying the statue in the front yard.

Monica - She keeps me from becoming an old fart. We get lost everywhere we go together. She always has a change of outfits with her when I see her, just in case she decides she doesn't like the one she has on. We were part of the welcome committee, she provided the comment cards. Her alias: I really did think her name was Monica when I met her. I didn't like Monica, but she is OK.

Luke - I work with him now. During an orientation I had to play a "get to know you" game. One of the questions we had to answer was "If you could talk with anyone in the world, who would it be?" I wrote "the guy on the other side of the wall of my cube". Turns out he was fun to talk to. He knows what 3:33 means. I can always count on him to "loan me 47 cents, I don't have enough change to get on the bus". He is my new lunch leader. We disagree on things, but that is good. Its boring to agree on everything and we would probably end up gossiping like old hens if we didn't has something we disagreed on to talk about. His alias: He is an excellent cartoonist. He once drew a doodle during a meeting which ended up getting tacked up on co-workers walls. It described the system they used perfectly and with humor.

Lawrence - He always thought about others. He once told a mutual friend, Dan, "Hey, thanks for getting my friend a job." (Dan was the one who told me, back in 2007, to "apply at for anything you are qualified for.") He thanked someone else for helping me. One evening I was at his place; I missed dinner and was hungry. He insisted on making us sandwiches, He gave me a sandwich, on a plate, no less - not just on a napkin. I noticed he made his sandwich with the stale old heel of the bread. He gave me the best and took the least for himself. I fell asleep on his couch more times than I could count. He never woke me up and sent me home...in the middle of the night...in the rain. His alias: I got the idea for this post on the feast day for Lawrence; both he and Lawrence had a way with people.

This post is dedicated to the memory of Lawrence, he will always be in our hearts. "For the love of God."