Weekly Homework Assignment

After a week off, Mama Kat is back and better than ever (yes, if I could, I'd even get her an apple) with her weekly homework assignment.

The topic I chose is "Are you still friends with you high school friends? Describe them." I guess in this sense, I'm lucky, as I still am friends with many of my high school friends. I decided to take it a step further - friends who were my childhood friends:

My first childhood friend who I am still very good friends with is Ray-Ray. I've known him since I was about 1 - you see, my mom babysat him back in the day. We were basically like brothers for the first 4-5 years of our lives. We stayed very close friends UNTIL high school, when we got into a fight over a girl. It took us about 4 years to begin talking again, but then slowly we rebuilt our friendship, and are now as close as ever. In fact, he got married just a little over a month ago, and I was in the wedding. Ray-Ray is funny, and sometimes abrasive, but if you know him like I know him, you would understand how good of a friend he really is - the man would do anything for me and my family, and I am also very willing to repay the favor. I am thankful that we were able to put a petty issue aside all those years ago.

A neighborhood buddy of mine, Davers, is another buddy I've managed to keep for oh so many years. He moved to my neighborhood when he was about 4 ... I was 6 at the time. The kid excelled so much at sports that he was always better than me, but he was always willing to teach and encourage me, and because of him, I became a decent athlete ... by no means a great one, but certainly a better one that I would've been if he wasn't in my life. He is also responsible for getting me into fishing and spicy foods (the man's family is Italian, and his mom made some of the greatest Italian food known to man on a weekly basis). Coincidentally, his wedding was this summer, and I was honored to be a part of it. We don't hang out nearly as much as we used to, but we do text each other quite a bit ... which, I guess is a good thing.

I've known my friend Johnnay since the third grade. We were friends, but not close friends for most of school until we were juniors or seniors in high school. He is now one of my closest friends (even though I tend to probably make fun of him too much). He's got a heart of gold, and my hope is that someday he'll find a woman who deserves him (that's a compliment, by the way. The man was married before, but unfortunately, things didn't work out). No, he's not good in sports, and no he's not the funniest guy in the world (at least, not on purpose), but he's a great guy in almost every way, and I am lucky to have him as a friend.

The last one I'll talk about is my friend Nick. Many months ago, I blogged about him, and how we were no longer friends, and how it bothered me (I probably said some other nasty things, but let's not talk about that). As luck would have it, he read my blog, started his own blog to respond to my blog, and ironically, it opened up communication between the two of us. I've known him and been friends with him ever since high school, and miscommunication (and unfortunate situations) caused us to drift apart. But, thanks to the wonderful world of blogs, we became friends again, and have picked up right where we left off.

I have left out many other friends I've made, from work friends (yes, I'm talking about my Lockheed buds), to other grade school, high school, and even college friends (and college related friends), not to mention the friends I've made through my wife Schue. You all are very important to me.

My dad made a great quote at his 50th anniversary party - he said something along the lines of, "You can tell how great a man is by his friends." Well, if that's the case, I'm one helluva guy, thanks to you guys and gals.