Esotropiart

Here is something unique - a group of 4 friends who have much in common, most notably an unstoppable friendship. Our gatherings are more seldom as life tugs this way and that, but it seems nothing will separate us forever. A few weeks ago my mom all-of-a-sudden invited the four of us and our families together for a traditional taco night (thanks, Mom!). Our friendship through the years has been profound to the point that I have always considered any one of my friends' parents my second parents. So when the Jim Guys (our formal title) get together, it's not strange or uncommon for our parents to be involved. Fortunately just about everyone came last Friday. It was a wonderful evening, and it seemed everyone enjoyed themselves.

Jim Guys reunited: it had been about 3 years since the four of us had been together in one place. I see Dave pretty often, and Jim a bit less. I had not seen Marcus in a couple years, and I wasn't sure if I would see him again. It was a great privilege to see him acting like the same ole guy we always knew. After a few moments of surface conversation, it felt just like the old days: laughing together, sharing stories and ideas, and dispensing our unique, senseless type of humor. Surely God brought us together. Who could doubt it? I challenge each one of you, Jim Guys, to look at the last 14 years or so and to recount how God has used each other now and/or then to bless and strengthen one another. It has been an extraordinary friendship, one of legend. We have "such a rich history" together, as Dave put it. We have created so many ideas, new words and expressions and... I can't even begin to describe or list what creativity our minds have spawned. I truly believe that together, we are an unstoppable force. Our dreams (more vivid for some than others) of making a video game, movie or some sort of business were never realized, but mostly due to our somewhat common lack of ambition and specific vision. Perhaps our most common quotes are "that should be in our movie", "We should write that down!", and "Some day we'll have to make a list of all this". Several books or documentaries couldn't really express it all. My life would have been so much less without these three. I tend to believe I would not have survived certain periods of my life without the provision of God through Jim Guys. What an amazing legacy, and what a joy to have this special evening with [almost] all our families together - something that's only happened a couple times (certainly never with all the "new" members included).

Who knows, maybe it will be another 3 or 25 years before we all get together again. Perhaps I will never see any of them again. God alone knows the number of our days. Regardless of separations of time and distance, I will always feel a special bond with Dave, Jim and Marcus: can't stop it.

Here are more pictures from last Friday (and a couple surprise extras).

Also check out Dave's thoughts about this event. He included some interesting and important factoids that I left out. He's right, we really, truly do have our own subculture. The word "folklore" is quite accurate. I can't believe how many ideas we have created. The problem is that we have little proof. We have some in the form of letters and drawings, but most of it has just been mulled over in our minds or talked about, but not recorded. I think we should resolve to write as much of it down as possible. Hey guys, let's start doing it. Put it in any form possible, written down on 3x5's would be cool ;) Any Jim Guys expressions (and their general meaning/translation/context/creation scenario, if any), habits, worlds, ideas, creatures, memories of specific or general events, interests, you name it, write it down, be it a general impression or very specific detail. I'd love to compile such a collection into a book form, even if it's just re-printing the 3x5s exactly as we write them, full of illustrations and scribbled words. That would be treasurous.