My friend and roommate, Jon, was married this weekend. He will no longer be my roommate, but I’m more sure than ever that we’ll remain friends.
We met during his first month of college. I interviewed Jon to be a DJ for the campus radio station. What I most remember about this first meeting is how I mixed up his last name and the last name of his co-DJ. Today, “Jon Bartell” seems completely wrong.
It was not until a few years later that I got the following insight into how Jon lives his life. He was studying in Ireland and I was in the trenches of Salem, Oregon, with two other guys. We were trying to secure ourselves a house to rent. It was unnecessarily difficult for four young men to find a place to live together. Time and again, we were being turned away and it was getting disconcerting.
In one way, Jon was insullated. But in another, he was completely helpless, at the mercy of our search. And we couldn’t promise much to him. At this time, he said something along the lines of, “I’ll be living with the dream team. We will find a place and it will be awesome.” He was right. Our eventual home was, looking back, a total dump. We made that place a palace.
Jon showed the same optimism when his now wife left Portland for medical school one thousand miles away. And I know he was 100% comfortable with his choice to exchange vows on Saturday, knowing his life will be continually “awesome.”
Call it trust or faith, it will serve them well as they make decisions and move through life together. I wish Jon and Sharon the best and look forward to seeing their many accomplishments.
Adam, thank-you. I hardly got to see you Saturday night, but your presence was felt. I’m honored that you had a part in it.
I’ll be optimistic some more and say that no eulogy for our friendship will ever need to be written, and we will see each other often, and it will remain “awesome.”
Hawaii is wonderful.