Mike

Mike and I were probably the closets out of the guys. He and I got along so well. I was closer to him than Josh, and we dated, for a minute.

I met Mike back during sophomore year, but we didn't start hanging out until they moved to Bobcat. I can't remember how or when we started talking, but we just hit it off. It seemed like we were always hanging out. We would go grocery shopping together and everything.

In fact, I was with him when I found my cat, and he subsequently named her. Just the day before we had seen the movie "The Omen" and he named her Damien. Mostly because she was solid black, but she lived up to it. She was the demon cat.

Anyway, most nights I would be at his place or he would be at mine or we would be at the Sarahs'. We would watch tv and I would scratch his head and he would scratch my back. Most of the time he wouldn't even say anything. He would just walk in, point at his head and sit down. In fact, the only condition in which I was allowed to sit in his most comfy recliner was if I was scratching his head.

When I would clean the boys' house, Mike was the only one to make critiques. He knew that it bothered me, and nothing made him happier than to get under my skin. Mike and I would have our fair share of fights, but we usually got over them pretty quickly.

When he lived at Bobcat, I was the only one who was allowed to sit in his bed. Ah, take that. Although, I don't think that anyone really tried either.

When I was dating Virlyn, he loved to tease me about his name. Apparently, he, Billy and Sarah N. sat down one day and came up with a new nickname for him. They started with Merlin (often times playing the Sorcerer's Apprentice soundtrack while I was on the phone with him). Then they moved to Tim from the Holy Grail, and finally Timmy from Southpark. Everytime that I would get a text message or phone call from him, they would yell it out. "Timmay!!!"

I remember his room always being cluttered with lose change and ear plugs. He was just a light sleeper. He would always have weird dreams too, and felt compelled to tell me about them. "Yes Mike, that is strange. Hahahaha."

Once I took him and Eli to the lake with me. My cousin BJ was driving the boat at the time and Mike and Eli were tubing. All of the sudden, Mike hit some debris and fell off. When he climbed in the boat, he had a busted nose. He played it off though, and had a great time the rest of the day.

The next time that I took him to the lake, he broke the tube. He took on too much water and went under and the tube broke free from the boat. Not only did the rope break, but the rung holding the rope to the tube ripped completely off. Just can't take him anywhere.

When he decided that he wanted to go to seminary, he asked me for a letter of reference. It was eloquent and slightly embellished. I got entirely behind him though. I even went to Mass with him. It was almost as if they knew that I was coming, the whole message was about why its bad to be a protestant and, in particular, a Baptist. "Do I have a stamp on my head or something?"

While he was away at school, he would get lonely. I would keep him company by watching shows with him while on the phone. When he would come in town, I would take him out to dinner. Usually Red Lobster. This was before I became allergic.

Once we decided to go kayaking together. While we were traveling down the river, we came across a rope swing. We beached our boats and decided to give it a whirl. During our climb up the bank, he noticed that his hand was in a mess of poison ivy. All I heard was the yelp behind me and the next thing I knew was that I was flying through the air. I grabbed hold of the rope and swung out and landed in the water. I hit my tail bone unfortunately because the spot where I landed was only three feet deep, if that.

That was also the time that I had gotten the worst full back sunburn of my life. (Guess who was in charge of putting sunscreen on it?)

Now, Mike is married, I haven't seen him in about two years. We still talk via email, facebook and phone. (I forgot to mention that he left the seminary didn't I?)