Hitchhiker's guide.

11/26/11

So great moment in my life happened tonight.

Let me give you a quick little lead in, back story if you will. So as many of you know, Chris Bowley was a dear, dear friend of mine. My brother growing up. There wasn't a day between 4th grade and senior year in high school when Bo and I didn't hang or correspond in one way or another. If for some reason we didn't check in with each other somehow someone checked in for us. We always seemed to know what the other one was doing. As we got older and went off to college, we became semi-disconnected. But we would always come full circle a little ways down the line. When we would meet up it was as nothing had changed, no time had passed. Time went on and our circle of friends grew and his circle was mine and mine was his. It was this great unspoken bond.

But with all of that there were a couple of things we didn't meet eye to eye on. I'll give you some examples... first the band the Cars. I never liked them, Bo... loved them! Still to this day, I can't listen to the Cars without remembering the arguments we had. Videos games. I couldn't sit still long enough to get through a game or in Chris' case then entire game, all levels. We had many a disagreement about what we should do on a nice Saturday afternoon. Play the Indiana Jones game on no die mode (if you turned the Atari on while pushing the cartridge in and out, somehow the game gave you endless lives) or go outside to play wiffle or basketball?
The other thing that we never clicked on was the book, "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." When Bo read this book it was his bible. He loved it. We talked about it a bunch. He leaned on me to read it. I tried, I couldn't get into it. It was Bo’s humor and much like the video games I couldn't get into it. So I gave him the book back. Years passed and I think we both were in college. The conversation came up late night, actually I think he quoted a phrase from the book and I laughed. He stared at me, with that bo/blueshi look and probably said something to affect, "you know that's from the hitchhiker’s guide, right?" I probably said, "Ha! that dorky space book you tried to make me read?" Well again he gave me the book. It had to be circa 1992-94. Since then, that book has traveled w/ me from location to location. Its pages are yellow/brownish and it smells like it should be in a museum or a library. I tried a couple years back to read it again for Bo. But alas... I couldn't get into. So back on the shelf it went.
So early last week, my son Riley, the high honors student that he is, said that he didn't have a book to read. This in its self is a rare thing. The boy is brilliant and a reading machine. So you probably know where this is going. I gave him the hitchhikers guide last Monday. And every morning this week he has come downstairs to tell me that this is the funniest book he has ever read and he loves it some much. He finished it in 5 days.

Tonight as I tucked my son into bed, I picked up the book to give it a quick look over. And written inside the front cover page was one word in Bo’s handwriting.

"Lived"

Thanks Bo - i love you and miss you, man.

Happy Birthday

Boy I miss that dude. I've said this before, but I'm so disappointed Chris never had a chance to meet our kids. And I'm equally disappointed that my kids never had the chance to meet Chris - They'd a been thicker than thieves. I can just see them... especially now that the kids are getting a bit older....Chris and Ethan conspiring off in some corner to play a trick on mom and dad. I can see him planting that seed of mischievousness, then nurturing it over the years... encouraging the kids to get bolder and more creative, bu always with that pure, innocent, positive sense of humor. Boy, what a great influence he would have been on them.

I miss you, Chris. It's been a long time, but you're still top of mind.

Happy birthday Chris!