To me, the most interesting things in life are the people you get to know. Further, the community you put around you shapes who you are. So describing my community will serve a few purposes. First, and selfishly, it will allow me to reminesce about old times and think of all the wonderful people in my life. Second, these people I have in mind are all great and getting to know them, if by no other way than my poorly constructed word pictures--well you could do a lot worse. And finally, by knowing the people who are important to me, maybe it will serve as a glimpse into who I am.

Theres a few people I have in mind which I am going to spotlight. Some people who are very important to me, and others who only spent a short season with me. To begin though I picked a friend of mine who has been nearly a brother at times. He's not the most important person to me, but a very important person, and because of the strangeness of our dynamics, it will serve as an easy warm up and entertaining read (hopefully).

About Jed. Jed and I met in fourth grade. He was home on furlo from the mission field. His whole family is in the mission field, nearly literally. He grew up in Thailand for his first ten years or so. I think this fact filters Jed's entire person. Honestly, I don't remember the first time I met Jed. He was really shy, and interested in observation of American kids. I was obnoxious and extraverted. The way Jed remembers our first meeting was in Sunday School. I was holding my Holy Bible like a baseball bat hitting crumpled up paper wads being thrown to me by the church secretary's son. While I don't remember this exactly, I don't doubt its legitimacy. It was probably quite the site for a kid who had spent less time in the states than Thailand.

My first episodic memory of Jed is when he moved to a big brick house on my bus route. I know that we had connected on some level prior to that because I played at his old white house he lived in before that. I only know that because I remember the lawnboy mower they used to mow their lawn. It was a big lawn and a little mower.

Jed started riding my bus. He sat in the same seat as me, at least some of the time. But he only rode for like three minutes. He was supposed to go back to Thailand after a year, but ended up staying in the states. I remeber that being good news, so apparently we were some kind of friends at that time.

I know we hung out between then and junior high school, but that era is fuzzy for me. I remember a time we had a sleepover an got to use the summer kitchen as our hangout. We had a fire in the fireplace, and played with it a lot. It was a gentile bahmitzphah of sorts to be left alone in the summer kitchen with fire. Jair was there too, but more on him later.

The next thing I remember about him was at a junior high retreat when Jed stood on his chair and sang worship songs at the top of his lungs. It was weird--like reverrant but obnoxious at the same time. I'm not sure but it might have been the same retreat where Jed portrayed a role for which he is still famous. None other than family therapist Dr. Jed. Dr. Jed was kind of like an imitation of Chris Farley imitations (because in Jr. high, we mostly had seen older kids who had actually seen SNL imitate Chris Farley) who wore over the calf socks. He squawked at some other tweener about being lazy or something, and then it ended with Dr. Jed helping the kid get right with Jesus.

Around this time I ran over Jed's knee with a four wheeler. It hurt him a lot, and I laughed at him a lot. It was more like how you nervously laugh at Kill Bill or Pulp Fiction than me laughing at Jed (I've told myself). The story goes from moderately bad to crappy the next day when Jed wore his dad's knee brace from 1977 to school. In gym class all the kids saw the old ratty outdated knee brace. Imagine how well junior high boys let that go. And I did my best imitation of Peter's denial to defend Jed.

Jed moved away for a couple of years to Illinois. When he moved back though it was like he never left. Our friendship took off right where it left off. It's still that way. Jed and I won't speak for months, and catch up in a few sentences, taking off where we left before. That might be an unhealthy signal of our codependent arrested development.

People used to tell Jed and I that they liked us, but not together. I am not sure I have ever met the Jed other people know--the one who exists outside my presence.

I kind of talked about how Jed sees life through a Thai filter. I don't think its because he remembers Thailand so much, but more has to do with how when he first became aquinted with American culture, he was able to question why on things. Most of us just grow up in it, and it is they way it is just because, thats the way it is. But Jed got to visit our culture as an alien of sorts. He was able to use logic and wonder about everything he saw. This continues even now. Honestly its one of his stronger traits.

As a grown up Jed brews his own beer and roasts his own coffee. His two bedroom house has no bathroom, only a toilet in the middle of an empty area behind his kitchen. He's also knocked out some random walls. Theres no furnace either-- just a conductive heat thingy he engineered himself. He has awesome ideas for his house, and for everything in general. He also has a bigger appriciation of craftsmanship than anoyne else I know in my generation.

Jed is also one of the most interesting people I know. He is so fun to be around because he's completely impulsive. An impulsive person full of good ideas is a great combination. But he's also horribly unreliable. If he sayat meet 3, that means about half the time, he will actually show up, eventually. The other half of the time he will call and tell you he has to cancel because he's in the middle of overhauling a steam engine or something. Its a terrible trait, but the fact that he remains so popular speaks to his company being top notch.

Jed's also kind of a contrarian, but a well thought out one.

He's completely pragmatic in some areas, and in others irrational.

But bar none, Jed's best quality is his self awareness. I haven't said anything Jed doesn't already know. He's always evauluating himself.

Its nature I suppose, but saying that Jed and I take off right where our conversation last ended despite the time in the pause is a bit of an exaggeration. He and I are becoming slowly more distant. But this is to be expected, and its happened a lot slower than it does in most relationships I've been in and observed. But for sure, I love the guy and don't regret any times I have spent with him.

Also, Jed, isn't it weird to ready your obituary?