30 Days Of Thanks: Jeremy

Dear Jeremy,

            When we were in middle school, you moved in across the street from me. I remember when you guys set up a basketball hoop, thinking that I needed to get to know you. At that point, my parents had recently gotten a divorce and I was still fairly new to the neighborhood. Although there were lots of kids around, I was never quite able to incorporate myself into their groups. I remember sitting outside one day when you and your dad were playing basketball. I crept from the porch to the lawn to the curb, to your yard and eventually to playing with you. Thanks for that. And the friendship took off from there.

            You brought with you, several things. A love of the Kansas City Chiefs and Mustangs. I’ve grown to love football, but I still don’t understand cars. To me, they are just a device to get me from here to there. We started to make the transition through pubescence together. Our nights moved away from the neighborhood-wide dodge ball marathons to playing video games and girls. Then I move away.

            I remember when we talked about making it big with creating or own text-based adventure game called “Fall From Grace”. You had gotten a book on how to teach yourself basic programming and wrote up a story about trying to become the kingpin of a town, building an empire of minions working for us. We spent hours coming up with lists. Names of people and how many hit points they had. How strong different weapons were, etc.

            After I moved back in with my dad on the opposite side of town, we saw each other less and started to grow apart with our new friends at different schools. I remember how you would blow up into shouting matches with your brother and your dad. That was always shocking to me, but I always admired how you would stand your ground and fight for what you believed was right.

            One of my most fond memories with you was when we decided to drive down to Kansas City after school one day. I don’t know what prompted us, but we made the several hours drive from Des Moines in a much shorter time than we aught to have. Then I think that it was your cousins that we visited with and sped back even faster than on the way down. I remember being on high alert, watching for police and worrying about getting home before my mom. We haven’t really talked in about fifteen years, but I hope that life is finding you well and that you are still rushing off to adventures every now and then.

Adam