So Let's Raise Our Glasses

At ten thousand twenty three feet atop Haleakala on Maui, this picture was taken by Chan, my then-fiancee in the summer of '98.

Sometime in the fall of 1996, sometime in late September or early October, I met Grant. My first real memory of him is standing in Alley 7, swinging a bat, getting ready for IH Softball to start. Andy and I were in 225, Grant and MJosh shared the triple next door; Grant came out of the triple and saw me swinging the bat.

"You play ball?" he asked, half intrigued and half already bored with the conversation. "Yeah, I played through high school." At this, his eyes lit up, though I didn't yet understand why.

A few months later I was a waiter and starting shortstop, and Grant and I were fast friends. Along with waiting came drinking, and along with drinking came long, late nights of introspection. In many ways, Grant changed and shaped my life. He was my own personal devil, Mi Diablo. He showed me that I would not, in fact, be struck dead on the spot for having a drink, or two, or ten. And when I did have ten, he stayed up with me, put me in the shower, and made sure I got into bed (and that was even before we were roommates).

Grant and I bitched a lot (mostly to each other rather than at each other). We had problems with women, school, baseball, or whatever, and we overcame the lot. I would have Flamed spectacularly sophomore year if not for Grant. Of course, if Grant could have offered me some protection in the lineup, I might not have walked 27 times in 21 games my junior year; then again, he's the only guy that's ever been hit in retaliation for one of my home runs.

In '98 I got engaged, and moved out in the Spring of '99 (after a tough couple of months where Grant was forced to share Page 201 with me and my fiancee), and another couple of months later he graduated. We drifted apart as I began my married life and he his professional life.

A year or two into my career at BSS, Liz revealed to me in stage whisper that Grant had found a girl... a girl who, somehow, seemed to be cool and seemed to really like him! Liz confided to me the warning that she had given G-Dub: if he and Jamie ever broke up, the "gang" was going to keep her, not him. I have only had the privilege of spending about 6 or 7 hours with Jamie so far; about an hour at Dale and Marie's wedding, another hour here in the 'Burque when Grant came to interview, and a few hours a few weeks back when the four of us hit High Finance and Satellite Coffee. That short time has been more than enough to know that Grant is getting an incredible woman with whom to share his life; and y'all can trust me that Jamie's getting a pretty sweet deal too.

I like to think that by moving to New Mexico, Chan and I have "saved" Dale and Marie and now Grant and Jamie from LA. Maybe they didn't all hate it as much as Chan and I did (and do); for now, we'll still consider it a favor. But it's been great to once again play ball with Grant, Tuesday nights now and softball instead of hardball... but we still put together a wicked outfield-assisted out at home a couple of weeks ago, a trademark of our CIT baseball career together.

Chantel and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary tonight, even as Grant and Jamie were sharing their vows with one another. Now Grant and I can help each other once again: neither of us will miss July 29th of any year to come.

We can't wait to spend a lot more time with these great friends of ours, Mr. and Mrs. Grant and Jamie Williams.

Cheers!