you interact with the opposite sex. And that was something that was relevant for your entire life as opposed to Algebra that wasn’t relevant…uh…ever. I think the fact I went to an all boys’ high school is the main reason it took me such a long time to get comfortable around girls and was the reason I screwed things up with girls like Keara but it never seemed to affect Billy. Some guys are just like that and I had to give it to him because that attitude gave him experiences that contained everything from handcuffs to cockfights. His stories were always the best. Even though we were very different we became fast friends because
neither of us was interested in what the teachers were trying to teach us or tell us. We just didn’t care. At the time all I was concerned with was getting out of there. And all Billy cared about was his next conquest. And now, years later, little had changed. I was still looking to the next phase of my life and Tommy was checking out a girl who was sitting on the other side of the bar. The difference was that he was leading the kind of life he wanted to be leading because it didn’t take him long to march over and talk to her. And me? I just wished I was that confident about anything. Doug took it to another level though. Billy had a very real but quiet confidence in everything he did and said but Doug had no problem telling you point blank that he was doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing with his life. He was the first friend I made in college and I was just happy to have someone to do things with. We would play basketball together or hit
up whatever party we happened to hear about and then hung out at for an hour or so. Then we’d usually just go play basketball again because we were both convinced we were better than the other guy. Although I always won…usually. We had fun though. One of my favorites was when we saw a pumpkin in the hallway which was a
decoration for Halloween. He said we’d have to chuck it onto the catwalk when the decorations came down. Now, the catwalk was probably 100 feet down and 50 feet away from the window so I told him there was no way he was going to make it. The next words out of his mouth were, “open the window” and sure enough, he nailed it. Being the good guy he was though he felt bad about ruining the pumpkin and even bought a new one. He had always been religious but it was never an essential part of his life until our later college years when he got more into it. He even joined a fraternity and tried to bring the word of God to them which didn’t exactly work out for either side. Still, I gave him credit for trying. But now he had made a total commitment to that life. He even took me out the woods by his house so I could appreciate the true nature of God. I wasn’t sure this was the best way to appreciate God, as opposed to, you know, Nature,