Time for another writing about people who have influenced me in big ways in my life. This one is about a couple of my friends growing up: Josh J. and Aaron G.
These two guys were church friends. I met them at church when my family started attending the church when I was 10. There were a bunch of guys in the class at the time and we were all “friends” but over time Josh, Aaron and I certainly became close friends.
I would say it really started to click when we were in junior high. I had the great pleasure to hang out at their houses almost every weekend during the school year and throughout the week in the summer. We would do all the things kids did back in the early 90’s. We played video games, went to the mall (on our bicycles until Aaron learned to drive, being the oldest), went to movies, etc. It was great. We had church in common, but we also had a love for Star Trek and sci-fi in general in common. So, any time something sci-fi would come around we were certain to do it together. We did a lot together and they taught me how to be friend. When we all had computers in college we would get together and network them all in the same house and play computer games together. This was before the craziness of online gaming, and we would have our own gaming parties. We would eat, talk and laugh, as we played different games together. We would see nearly every new movie together opening weekend, and then we would talk about them, sometimes.
First I will talk about Josh. He was certainly the more outgoing and “rougher” of these guys. I learned to swear from him, and to make sure I didn’t do it around adults. This may not be a good thing, but it is something that I remember. I remember him always being there for me though. If I wanted to hang out, I don’t remember a time when he would say no. Well, there was one time when a girl was involved and we had quite an argument (not a fight, I would have lost that in a heartbeat) and we didn’t speak to each other for a few months. All the way through high school that was the longest we went without talking to each other, and it was all over a girl. But what did I learn, that was really stupid. She was just a girl, and my friendship with Josh was a lot more important than some girl that we both liked. (And she was just using me to make him mad, and then when that didn’t work out the way she wanted it to she was out of the picture for both of us (oh the joys of childhood crushes)). After that we never let a girl get between us while in high school. I didn’t always treat him all that great, but he was always a good friend. Once in college I let another woman get in the way of my friendship with Josh and I left him on his own at my dorm for like 2 hours with nothing to do while he waited for me to get home. That was a low point for me, but I remember him not getting mad at me (at least he didn’t say anything to me). He was there for me. That is what I will say about Josh he was always there for me as a friend. He helped me build my love for movie soundtracks. He was big into them and I was growing into them when we were in jr. high, but I really started listening to soundtrack because of Josh I think. I started buying them and listening to similarities between movies done by the same composer. We would try and identify the composer of a movie score by listening to parts of it and seeing if we could correctly determine who it was. Josh was really good at it, and I wasn’t bad. When we would go to church camp we would always hang out. He had opportunity to hang with others that may have been more athletic or such but he would tend to include me in on things. Again, showing true friendship. When he was working at a car garage I was able to call him up and ask car questions if I had them, and he would do his best to answer them. I remember sports. I was never a sports person, but he got me involved with sand volleyball in high school. It was something we did regularly with church people and non-church people, but always at our church since we had a sand volleyball court there. I ended up inviting my school friends, non-church goers, to our church all the time just to play volleyball. It wasn’t much of a ministry, but it was a little bit of one, and that was because of Josh. In college we started falling away from each other (my fault), but I was in his wedding and he was in mine. After that we would hang out some, but not as much as we did before. But I still feel that I could call him up and hang out if he had the time and I had the time. Later in life Josh has shown me that Christ is so important to living. He has become a strong Christian leader with a campus ministry group at ASU, and I am so glad to see him thrive there. I am sure he is influencing “kids” on a regular basis, and the way he influenced me tells me that he is going to do a great job at it.
And then there is Aaron. He and I connected in a slightly different way than I did with Josh. Aaron was more intellectual like me and so we had that in common. I can remember doing model kits with Aaron at his house during those jr. high years. He was a lot more meticulous than I was at them and I learned the advantage of spending more time on them from him. And that translated into other parts of my life. I think I started spending more time on things after that and I think it was partly because of learning about model building from Aaron. In jr. high he introduced me to the band Petra. That was the first time I had heard any Christian music outside of the church. I loved it. I liked the rock sound of it, and Petra is still one of my favorite bands, and the album “Beyond Belief” which is the one Aaron introduced me to is still one of my top albums of all time. That introduction took me on a direction of finding Christian music that I liked. I am not sure how much longer I would have stuck with just secular music if it wasn’t for Aaron. I found Five Iron Frenzy and as a result ska music entered my life. I learned of bands like Relient K and Switchfoot both bands that I have found important at times in my life. And all of that because Aaron had me listen to this band Petra back in the early 90’s. Aaron helped me understand the power and advantage of building my own computer. In college one summer he helped me piece together and build my very first computer. It was a great time learning the best things to put into it with the money I had available to me. He even got me some deals from what I remember at time from where he was working. That influence took me to the point where I ended up building a few computers for myself and my father over the next 10+ years. It all started with him building one and convincing me that it was the way to go. He was always available when I had a computer question (stupid windows), and I needed to figure something out. He would walk me through it, come over, or I would head to his place for help. He was always a kind person. One year he bought me, for my birthday, historical sci-fi the world war 2 series by Harry Turtledove. Prior to getting these books I mostly read Star Trek books, but these were great books, and I ate them up. I ended up reading most of Harry Turtledove’s work because of him, and I still keep on the lookout for new books from him to see if he comes out with something I might want to read. Those books opened my eyes to other types of sci-fi books. I would say that if it weren’t for those books Aaron gave me back in high school I would probably not have gotten into books by John Scalzi, Larry Corriea, Brandon Sanderson, Peter Clines, and the like. That was a big influence on me in the area of reading. Similar to Josh we started losing touch in college (again my fault), but I was able to go to his wedding in Australia and be his best man. There is a regret in my life there, I had to give a speech and I froze. I didn’t say the things that needed to be said. I needed to say these things that I just wrote here. He made a difference in my life. We had so much fun as kids and I am thankful and blessed that I was able to be there at his wedding, and that he wanted me there. I am sorry Aaron for not speaking words like this at your wedding reception. I should have.
Friends like these were so important to me growing up. I had other friends. But none were like these two friends. I made connections with them, and we experienced all ranges of life together growing up. I pray that my girls have a couple of friends like Josh and Aaron as they grow up. I can start to see it a little with “A”. I hope she does a better job than I did keeping those friends once college and adult life starts.