Day 754: The Chair, Part 13 – The Friendships, Part 4 = Justin

I met Justin 17 years ago.
Justin and I were in High School Marching Band together, but we met about a year prior to that when a mutual friend introduced us.
The first time I saw him he had hair down to his butt and was wearing a Harley Davidson t-shirt… and I was like, “Oh great… who is this joker”.  

That’s right folks, I totally judged his book by the cover… and I was totally wrong.  By the end of our first night hanging out Justin and I were friends for life and we often joke about how wrong my first impression of him was.

Like Tennessee, Justin also fell off my radar for a while… during my senior year of high school, Justin moved to Virginia.  During those early years he visited once and then talked periodically.

Ultimately, Justin was a much better friend than I was… like clockwork, about every year and a half I would get a call from him and we would pick up that short hand… at least until the time the calls stopped coming.

I have to admit… when the calls stopped, I noticed.

So, I started looking for him.  And as I internet stalked him, I started learning more and more about what Justin had been up too.

He had joined the National Guard as a photo journalist (I found pictures credited to him on official NG websites).

I even found a picture of him in a renaissance reenacting troupe based out of Virginia.  I actually exchanged a few emails with the group’s organizer, who said Justin had disappeared about a year prior to my inquiry and if I find him, “say hi for me.”

At one point, I thought I had tracked down his brother in Utah… but the number was connected to a fax machine and no one responded to my voice when I tried to talk over the beeping.

Finally… about eight years after I had last seen him… and about five years after I had last spoken to him… I found his parents living in Texas… and called them.  His mother, Nancy remembered me instantly and promised to pass my message on to Justin.

An hour later my phone rang.  It was him… and we talked for about two hours.

He had been living in Utah with his brother the whole time.  They both exclusively used cell phones and used their land line for their fax machine.

“Why didn’t you just send a fax?”

It never occurred to me.

Anyway, about a year after tracking him down, Serena and I flew out to Denver to visit her brother… and well, Justin drove down to see us for the weekend.  We had a blast… it was like no time had passed at all.  He was the same old Justin.

By the time I entered the Foreign Service, Justin has moved to Pennsylvania… and of course, being the amazing friend that he is, he drove down to see us at the Oakwood before shipping out to Serbia.

Justin!  I owe you a road trip.