The Misty Water Colored Memories Edition

This week is reading week for me so no classes but tons of reading and writing. I've got to finish a paper on the Scopes trial, get a significant portion of the way through my long research paper on the fall of the Shan in 1979, and read a book on the trial and execution of French writer Robert Brasillach, accused of collaborating with the Nazis during the occupation. (Also we're getting ready for our vacation in a few weeks)- so lots on the plate. One important thing though I have to take time to write about and that is my friend Dave Andrews who on Friday turns the big 4-0. I have a circle of friends back home in Virginia- guys I'd go to the wall for if called upon. With as much love that I have for them, there are two that are as close to me as brothers- Scott and Dave. We go back over 25 years of friendship and that's a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears let me tell you. I think they know how much I love the two of them and I miss them every day. Now since I already have a brother named Dave, Andrews is pretty much referred to as "Andrews"- we don't have THAT much imaginiation. When I first met Andrews (actually the first few times) let's just say he didn't make the greatest of impressions. He was uh, behaving, in a manner that I would learn later was not his normal personality. It would be through much time spent together that I'd learn just how deep and thoughtful Andrews really was. Andrews also had the natural leadership of our group that upon reflection is really hard to grasp. I mean he's someone people are drawn to- funny, outgoing- but I'm not so sure he desires the mantle of leadership. In fact I think he prefers the company of a few in a relaxed setting. Yet he always managed to be the one everyone turned to for direction. I would only learn later after I moved away and developed a circle outside the old one, that I realized a great deal of that had rubbed off and I became a leader of sorts- though I'm as uncomfortable with it sometimes as he was. But that was later. Back to the early years. There were long nights of playing football and basketball. We all bonded over our love of sports and as groups go we were a fairly tight one spending huge chunks of time with each other on school nights and in summers...until all the (for lack of a better term) 'Yokos' arrived. Pulled by the much prettier company there was less time spent, though still a generous amount. Eventually would come the heartbreaks of broken romances that always meant a period of bitterness which as a friend you endure and help drown with several pints of 'memory elixir'- there's virtually no relationship that several bottles of liquid refreshment can't make (temporarily) manageable. So there was plenty of that too. Speaking of relationships of a different kind, it is in part due to me that Andrews met his wife- a story that I think he retold at my wedding. One of my favorite memories is the trip we all took the weekend he was set to propose to Missy. At one point we stopped on the road-trip for something to eat and to gas up, the engagement ring was burning a hole in his pocket and having a curious effect upon his hands which were shaking- it was good thing he wasn't one of the ones driving. He managed (obviously) to find his composure later that weekend to go through with things. Road-trips are a recurring theme of our friendship. There were so many that I think outside of my wife I've spent more time on the road with Andrews that with any other human being. We've been everywhere to see concerts (all over the eastern seaboard to see the Stones) getting lost once in DC when we went to see Joe Jackson and almost never got out of DC. (Actually he, Scott and I got lost in DC the weekend my niece Sam was born. We went up there to see the Redskins and then the next night to see Steely Dan. After the football game we were trying to find out way back to our hotel in Alexandria and somehow wound up at the Zoo...I'm still trying to figure that one out.) Another road-trip to Blacksburg to see the band 10,000 Maniacs in a snow storm is one of the most memorable trips the three of us ever took. This is an old story but worth re-telling. Somewhere along the way we got into a deep discussion of religion, life and death etc. We must have been tempting the fates on such a horrible night of weather I suppose because in almost zero visibility conditions a tractor-trailer decided to merge into our lane...it seemed as though he was actually going to merge US with death as he never saw us in our tiny little compact car about to become even more compact beneath the massive 18 wheels. There was sort of collective dawning realization that amounted to the three of saying things like..."uh..tr..tru...TRUCK!!" As memory serves Scott wound up in the floor of the passenger side front seat (which upon reflection would just have served to make him closer to the road he was about to become a part of), Dave luckily had the wherewithal to swerve and prevent a disaster. I was lucky enough to be in the backseat with the cooler, so I preceded to drink heavily ('memory elixirs' also have a calming effect on heart palpitations after nearly being crushed by a Mack truck...you won't find that in medical journals but trust me here). We eventually made it to Blacksburg, more or less in one piece, but I developed a terrible flu (and I'd run out of beer the now 'all-curative') so Missy and her roommate pillaged the campus pharmacy, being good chemistry students, decided to experiment on me with a variety of 'medicines'. Interesting weekend to say the least. But the show was good! There are more stories of course. Some funny, some sad, some not for mixed company, and a couple that Vegas-like "happen there and stay there" lest they become the subject of lawsuits...but anyway. He's a beautiful man, and I love him dearly. I was lucky enough that he decided to be my friend all those years ago, lucky enough that he stayed in touch with me through all my nomadic wanderings, lucky enough that he could be the Best Man at my wedding, and lucky enough that he's one of the most decent people I've ever known. So happy birthday Dave and I'll see you in a few weeks!! In other news... Also arriving this week was Ginny Grace's birth certificate. This came as much relief since we don't have to jump through hoops to take her with us to Virginia next month. It also means that after we get back I can take her to the US Consulate and get her officially Americanized too! Get her US Passport and other info. Then she'll truly be an American girl AND a Canadian girl. I just can't wait to go visit my peeps back at The Beach. I haven't seen most of them for almost a year a half. My brother hasn't even met Ginny Grace yet. I also hope it is somewhat warm there since it's just turned bitterly cold here lately. I'm not looking forward to the long drive, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing all my family and friends again. Now for this week in pictures... sleeping and looking like mommy a bit more lately... one of her favorite places to crash is Daddy's lap... say ahh... another snooze... drinking is apparently a theme in this post... learing to sit up on her own at short intervals...and look...little piggies... bath time... nice hair dude... Until next week... Cheers