FourBux

Ah, memories.

So, as we inch closer to the impending move, I am at the point in my packing that I’m going through the boxes that didn’t get unpacked from the last time we changed addresses. And somehow, the things in these boxes are the ones that I would feel the most loss for if they were ever taken from me. Childhood toys that I hope to pass on to my kids one day (although since they don’t plug in or have any graphics per se, I don’t know how well they’ll be received), things I’ve inherited from relatives who’ve passed away, my grandfather’s purple heart medal from World War II, and old photos from college, like this fancy one below. I thought I’d share it with you before I pack the scanner.

The back-story here is that in that picture, only two of us are from Arizona, and since the others were from all over the country, including one from Canada that we let hang out with us, they wanted to do the old-timey cowboy photo. That’s me in the back row, right end. Since I got into the little dressing room later than the rest of the guys, I ended up with the costume leftovers, hence the bullwhip and tasseled jacket. At least I got a gun.

My roommate is the front row, middle, and although a great person today, was a constant source of much angst during my years at school. I especially like the basketball shoes behind the lanterns. He now lives in Denver and seems to be working on his baby-making abilities. Apparently, crossing your fingers doesn’t really work as a form of birth control. Go figure.

Directly in front of me is my best friend through school, and the best man at my wedding. Sadly, I’ve seen him less then five times in the last seven years, and we live about fifteen minutes from eachother. I blame it on his Colonel Sanders bow-tie, or maybe those white socks.

Top row, left end is the token Canuk from our group, who, along with Pancho Villa next to him, were a couple of great soccer players, at the school on scholarships. I’m not sure where they ended up. Although I didn’t smoke any of it, these two provided me with my first experience with marijuana. Mostly because they thought it was funny to leave whole leaves outside my dorm room door and listen when the R.A. came calling.

To my right in the photo is one of the nicest guys you’d ever hope to meet. He followed his girlfriend to college and they got married the summer after our freshman year. I drove from Phoenix to Kansas to be in his wedding. The night before the ceremony, I was bitten by some kind of spider, and my hand swelled up to the point that I had to keep it behind me in all the photos. Today, he’s a pastor in his hometown.

Then, bottom row left, is one of my closest friends. For spring break during our sophmore year, while all our friends were driving to Mexico to lay on the beach and drink margaritas, he convinced me it would be fun to drive to Cheyenne and hang with with him for the week. Since it was, after all, spring break, all I packed was shorts and t-shirts. What did I know? I’m from Arizona. Once we got to Wyoming, there was a foot of snow on the ground and more on the way. I spent all my money on warm clothes, which was okay, because as it turned out, there wasn’t a lot to do in Cheyenne anyway.

You better believe that the next year we went to Mexico though.