Well, since youāre long overdue for your āgushingā on your birthday...and we are racing towards middle-age or whatever the F... even though deep in a work well Youāre one of the best things that happened to me in my life... @mjb20222 Iām glad we got beyond now comical/then dramatic 6th grade weirdness to realize what I guess the Universe did - it just made sense to be Best friends... I already had @notpicard as my First Best friend - the smart sense of humor and shared deep geekdom/fan culture and personified quality was great to have as a primer. But, I suppose you became the Friend of broader worldview and intellect, culture and philosophical consideration. In that critical 5th grade not having Pat in my same class - you shared some fandoms but also introduced me to and challenged me on other mediums, genre, ideas... (Iād never read Stephen King - heās evil ā whoops... Meatloaf he sings about Hell n stuff. Take me to my first Metallica concert way up in the front, and Iām only dude wearing bright white shirt) We talked about the larger world and ideas beyond just our hobbies and interests, and when all the other dudes only talked about Sports (which we eventually added to the wheelhouse of poor-man-Renaissance-person anyways by college life) Already friends with Pat and starting to be friends with Mike - well, if you were going to be friends with two trombone players, how could you not share in the community of the best of them in Mohawkās Sr. High Band. Our Destiny realized again by 9th grade. I always respected you for being an honest and arduous and hard worker from the earliest ā and then in my constant intellectual actualization crises - with your brains - You probably donāt understand how my respect for you humbles and grounds me at times - You just reminding me about enjoying the simple but best things in life - Good Food, Smart (and not) Entertainment, Laughter, and most importantly - People and Fun Times - always trying to organize the trips to amusement parks and keeping everyone in touch as the Tether despite time and distance. https://www.instagram.com/p/B3h983qpWrN/?igshid=79di61lt1fzl