'Tis the Season Part II
I don't know what it is about this time of year (or, for that matter, this particular year), but my brother went to our 20th high school reunion in Tucson (which, for the second decade in a row, I failed to get an invitation to) and came away a little stunned. "Dave, it was amazing!" he told me later. "We all looked horrible!" He met a friend of ours we'd hung out with every day since junior high and neither of them recognized each other.
So a few days later I got an email from Kentaro Ogawa, a friend of mine from high school who---get this---didn't go to the reunion, but just saw the invite, thought of me, and decided to give me a Googling. Ken, who once tried to convince me to listen to heavy metal by hand-writing out the lyrics to Accept's "Balls to the Wall" in P.E. class, is now married and has multiple children. This is the first I've heard from him in twenty years.
Then it gets weird. The same day I heard from Ken, I also got an e-mail from Chris "Christian" Wulfsburg, who is still married to the same woman he got hitched to in college when we were all at the First Evangelical Free Church. Most of my friends were Inter Varsity parachurch folks, but Chris was the exception: one of the few Campus Crusade people who flitted back and forth between groups. We all thought he was crazy when he announced that he was marrying some woman he'd known only five months or so. But it seems to have worked, since he now has five children. FIVE. The orthodontia alone gives my credit rating sympathetic sweats. He lives in Texas and just thought, "Huh. I wonder what Dave's doing now." Google google google: voila!
He's no longer an evangelical, but---like Franky Schaeffer and Dostoevsky---turned Orthodox. (Actually Schaeffer's Eastern Orthodox and Chris is Russian Orthodox, but distance doesn't matter that much once you've all agreed to back the same twelfth-century antipope.)
Oh, and we haven't spoken or hung out since I left the E. Free church ... [mental math] ... thirteen years ago. What a wonderful surprise!
Then yesterday I heard from "Rebekah McGhee," who I know as "Rebekah, The Totally Hot Girl From Our Church Young Adult Group." She ran into a mutual friend of ours (Hi, Derek! How's the multiple kids?), my name came up, Google ... you know the rest. The cool thing is, she's in a band! Tucson's a great town to do that in.
Anyway, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say howdy to all these people who seem to be suddenly re-entering my life. Great to see y'all! And you came just in time, because I'm writing a book about evangelicalism and I want to make sure I characterize it with reasonable accuracy. So please be my consultants, okay? You'll be hearing from me as soon as I get the first fifty pages down solid.
In the meantime, if you're just catching up with me: in my opinion, clicking on the February posts tells you the whole blow-by-blow story of my move up here, while July, I think, represents the site at its best and most entertaining. (i.e., when I'm not too busy to update it because I'm dating and/or writing books.) So check it out! And howdy again, ya'll! I feel all at home again.
So a few days later I got an email from Kentaro Ogawa, a friend of mine from high school who---get this---didn't go to the reunion, but just saw the invite, thought of me, and decided to give me a Googling. Ken, who once tried to convince me to listen to heavy metal by hand-writing out the lyrics to Accept's "Balls to the Wall" in P.E. class, is now married and has multiple children. This is the first I've heard from him in twenty years.
Then it gets weird. The same day I heard from Ken, I also got an e-mail from Chris "Christian" Wulfsburg, who is still married to the same woman he got hitched to in college when we were all at the First Evangelical Free Church. Most of my friends were Inter Varsity parachurch folks, but Chris was the exception: one of the few Campus Crusade people who flitted back and forth between groups. We all thought he was crazy when he announced that he was marrying some woman he'd known only five months or so. But it seems to have worked, since he now has five children. FIVE. The orthodontia alone gives my credit rating sympathetic sweats. He lives in Texas and just thought, "Huh. I wonder what Dave's doing now." Google google google: voila!
He's no longer an evangelical, but---like Franky Schaeffer and Dostoevsky---turned Orthodox. (Actually Schaeffer's Eastern Orthodox and Chris is Russian Orthodox, but distance doesn't matter that much once you've all agreed to back the same twelfth-century antipope.)
Oh, and we haven't spoken or hung out since I left the E. Free church ... [mental math] ... thirteen years ago. What a wonderful surprise!
Then yesterday I heard from "Rebekah McGhee," who I know as "Rebekah, The Totally Hot Girl From Our Church Young Adult Group." She ran into a mutual friend of ours (Hi, Derek! How's the multiple kids?), my name came up, Google ... you know the rest. The cool thing is, she's in a band! Tucson's a great town to do that in.
Anyway, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say howdy to all these people who seem to be suddenly re-entering my life. Great to see y'all! And you came just in time, because I'm writing a book about evangelicalism and I want to make sure I characterize it with reasonable accuracy. So please be my consultants, okay? You'll be hearing from me as soon as I get the first fifty pages down solid.
In the meantime, if you're just catching up with me: in my opinion, clicking on the February posts tells you the whole blow-by-blow story of my move up here, while July, I think, represents the site at its best and most entertaining. (i.e., when I'm not too busy to update it because I'm dating and/or writing books.) So check it out! And howdy again, ya'll! I feel all at home again.
Labels: Dave Update
posted by Cowboy Dave Dickerson | 6:09 AM
2 Comments:
How cool for you! That is one of the best things about having a blog, I've discovered: several people from my past have also found and contacted me that way.
Hi Dave! This is Derek; I check your blog every so often and I ran across your mention of me. Yes, I was the one who mentioned your blog to Rebekah and thanks, the kids are doing fine!
I enjoyed reading the story that you told for the Moth, too. Keep it up!
I'd be happy to be a consultant for your book on evangelicalism. I still have great memories from those First E. Free high school and college days. You always had something interesting to say and you still do. Your occasional napkin cartoons remind me of the "Cartoon Tennis" game we used to play in the pews. I miss that! I'm sorry to say that my own cartoon muse has lately been roadkill on the information superhighway, but I enjoy following your trail of napkins...
--Derek
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