Last week I had the misfortune of attending the funeral of one of my friends. I’ve thought for the last week about what to write or even if to write about it. I’ve decided that I wanted to put some of my memories of JJ here for myself and our mutual friends to read and maybe share some of their own. This was my first funeral where I had to lay a close friend of mine to rest. I’ve lost grandparents and other relatives but something about a funeral for a guy only about six months older than me really troubled me. One of my friends said it best when he told me we’re supposed to be going to each other’s weddings and congratulating them on their newborns.
I met JJ in the Fall of 2001 when I decided to join Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE). He was initiated a year before me which meant I would be a member of the first pledge class since his he’d have the pleasure of initiating. Even though he had the upper hand on me being a member and me being a pledge he never really let it get to his head. He treated everybody with the same respect and friendship you showed towards him. A few of my favorite memories of JJ was a trip we made to Tulsa to help him move some stuff back to Tahlequah from his Dad’s house and learning you never bet JJ on anything.
JJ was our chapter’s social chair during my pledge semester and he would constantly remind me how important social chair was to the chapter. When I’m driving him up to his Dad’s to grab some furniture he once again reminded me of how I have such an important role of protecting the social chair he constantly referred to me as his secret service agent. An entire three hour roundtrip of him acting like the President of the US and me needing to jump in front of bullets for him. Goof ball.
My other memory is making the mistake of betting JJ. He was one of the biggest sports fanatics I knew. I didn’t always agree with his choice in teams but hey.. not everybody’s perfect. So my bet with JJ was I would play him a game of Madden football and the winner had to clean the other person’s car. I lost… horribly. Well before I cleaned his car I challenged him to a re-match of double or nothing. Second mistake, making this challenge while I’m intoxicated and he is not. He then proceeds to agree but on the condition that we play the game right then. I lost… horribly. To clear my debt with him I end up having to clean his car and go snack shopping for him using only a paper bag full of pennies, taped closed with a douche taped to the outside of it. Why he had all of this at his apartment I have no idea. Embarrassing? Sure… but I wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.
He was a good friend and I will miss the banter traded back and forth in regards to sports. He was a great guy and was taken from us way to early.
If you’re reading this and have some memories you’d like to share feel free to post them in the comments.
Enjoy!
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