Josh - A - Roo

The fun part about coming home from a mission is talking to all your old friends.  I had one friend, though, that I just couldn't find -- Josh.  He and I met in Reno shortly before his mission and we had a grand ol' time together.  Okay, sure, there was some drama.  He would claim it's because I'm a drama queen, but that's not the real reason.  OKAY, it IS the real reason.  Geez.  Anyway, Josh and I were great pals.  We did a lot together, including a really long drive all around Lake Tahoe late at night, basketball in the dark, and, unfortunately, fixing my old car.  It was probably the first (and only??) platonic relationship I can say I've had.  Josh had burned some CDs for me and so, when I came home from MA and was going through my music collection, memories from my days with Josh came flooding back.  I had to find him and see if he was still alive.  :)

Before I go any further, I went through some of my old pictures to try and find one of Josh and I.  I don't have one.  BUT, I had a great time laughing at all the pictures from early college days that are WAY awkward now.  I've included two below:  

Kerri and her then-boyfriend Judd.  They met at in a dance class and dated in Vegas just before Kerri moved to Reno to be with her favorite cousin of all time (me).  Interestingly enough, years later, my roommate and my boss's niece dated a guy in Vegas that they happened to meet in dance classes/dances.  He had a peculiar name.  Coincidence??

Andy and I.  Andy, bless his heart, is now happily married and living in Alaska.  Before his mission, we, uh, dated?  It was complicated.  Very.  And fell into that whole drama thing.  He really liked me (like, really...possibly semi-proposed?) but my feelings weren't mutual.  He was one of my dear, dear friends my first and second years of college.  Looking at this picture now...makes me a little uneasy. Oh sheesh.  (But look at how thin I look!  YAY!)

Now, let's continue with Josh.  He is the reason we are all here, on my blog, looking at old, uncomfortable pictures anyway.  SO, I looked on facebook and couldn't find him.  That pretty much made me want to give up.  (Yeah, my patience is quite limited.)  I tried his old email address, not thinking it would work.  

Yesterday I got an email back!  HOORAY!  My old friend has been found!  We exchanged numbers and talked on the phone for a good long while.  Our friendship is still pretty much the same:  we argue like nothing else, he calls me PUTZ, I annoy the crap out of him by calling him Josharoo (which he HATES), and we chat like no time has past.  I feel very satisfied.  Life can continue to hum nicely along now that Josh is back in my little world.

So, that's the end of my story.

Here's the only picture I could find of him.  It's while he was on his mission in Kentucky.