When it comes to friends I have a WIDE variety of them. I have younger friends, older friends, short ones, tall ones, weird ones, tattooed ones, scary ones, angry ones and British ones. I think it’s important to have such a spectrum of people in your life. Having too many like minded people could cause a Borg-esque mentality and before you know it the Federation is on your tail bent on your hive’s destruction. But I digress. Recently I got to spend some time with one of my more diverse friends. We’ll call him “AJ.”
Before moving to Colorado I was lucky enough to have some friends who already lived here; one of them being “AJ”. I met him a few years ago when he was in western New York for work. I hadn’t met anyone quite like “AJ” before. He had a unique outlook on life. In short “AJ” has and comes from shall we say a COMFORTABLE background I mean; I’ve known people in my lifetime who have had bank but not let’s say, “Choke a horse currency.” I went shopping with “AJ” once and he dropped a ridiculous amount on clothes just because he ran out of clean ones. Granted he was on an extended stay of a business trip once but still. He blew what I spend on clothes in a year in less than an hour. When you operate on that level of finances you tend to have a unique perspective of life than most of us. Some would say warped or out of touch with reality but I say different. “AJ” certainly does add another dimension in the way I view the simpler things in life and I hope I inject a new perspective into his.
Recently I had 2 interviews in the same day in Boulder and instead of driving back to Fort Collins I asked “AJ” if I could stay the night at his place. He said, “Of course” and gave me the address. As it stands Boulder is a pretty expensive place to live. “AJ” being “AJ” lives a notch above that in the northern part of town. Now I had already taken a ride in his new Silicon Valley electric automobile…you know what I’m sayin’. So I had a bit of an idea what his joint may look like. I’d say I was a BIT off the mark with my expectations. He lives (alone mind you) in a beautiful 4 bedroom/4 bathroom home complete with a salt water hot tub, custom recess lighting and a charging station in the garage for the car. If I had any sense I should have staged a sit in and refused to go until I was forcibly removed. But I was only there for the night and I wanted to visit with my friend.
Once I got settled and had a tour of “the grounds” we unplugged the car, piled in and headed off to dinner. We left a little early because “AJ” had to run a few errands first. One was to get the car washed which for the most part was pretty uneventful. But it did remind me of how precise “AJ” is in the way he likes things done. Like showing the towel boys at the car wash exactly where they missed. Don’t get me wrong he was in NO way rude or mean to the carwash kids and he does tip for a job well done. He just likes things the way he likes them. Not a bad trait really. The second stop we had to make was the mall. “AJ” was searching for an article of clothing that is orange. Another side of “AJ” most people don’t know is that he is a spiritual person. To be honest I’m not sure how it all ties into his whole lifestyle but from what I know of him he does try to embrace values behind the teachings. Hence why were searching for a piece of orange clothing; something to do with his chakra, chi or something. Once we found this soul centering garment “AJ” and I were off to dinner.
“AJ” had made reservations at this quaint yet pricey bistro the next town over. It was a cool but comfortable night so we decided to sit outside and enjoy the evening along with the Joan Collins wannabe strumming the guitar. We hadn’t seen each other for a while so we a lot to catch up on. He had been in the Boulder area for a while now and that he was thinking about moving to Seattle next summer. Since I’ve known him “AJ” has had many jobs and hobbies to keep him occupied. His latest endeavor is becoming an audio engineer. He told me he’s working at a studio learning the trade and he’s also gone as far as to start building a studio in his house. That is one thing I do appreciate about him when he wants to do something he does it. Not just half way but he dives in with both feet and a credit card strapped to his side. Funny thing is he doesn’t understand how more people don’t just do what they want. Why more people don’t just pick up and change their lives on a whim. Buy a plane and learn to fly. Take a pilgrimage to Machu Picchu. Stay in the swankiest hotels or move every few years to whatever city they’d like. On some level he doesn’t get that most people don’t have the resources to do that. Most people have families, responsibilities, debt and they can’t just take off whenever they like; as much as they’d like to. But you have to admire him for that blissful ignorance. Whether he knows it or not he has ability to just do it and not worry about the outcome because he’ll recover. He has a safety net. He essentially does what we all should do, live in the present.
After dinner we went back to his house and continued our conversation while soaking in the salt water hot tub. I told him I was seeing someone and that it happened just before I was about to move but despite the distance we decided to stay together. We also decided to be open to other options considering the distance and we would be completely honest with each other. With that being said neither one of us has acted on it to date. We’re kind of lazy like that. “AJ” wants a relationship but hasn’t had the best of luck with them. He has an image in his head what he would like, he’s looking for someone who is one the same spiritual level as he is but who has the resources to pick up a fly to Paris for the weekend at a moment’s notice. Personally I think the only way he’s going to get that kind of combination is if he starts dating Oprah. You never know there could be someone out there that fits those criteria. I didn’t expect to find my guy (as poorly timed as it was) so there’s still hope for “AJ”. After a good soak and deep conversation we both decided it was time for bed.
The next day we got up and went to breakfast. “AJ” had some errands to run so I asked if he minded if I stuck around for a while. He said, “Of course.” Gave me to code to the house and spent the rest of the afternoon lounging on the couch with a blanket, the fifty inch flat screen and TiVo. When he got back we went into Boulder to this New Age bookstore we both like to hang out for a while. A reading and a couple of yogi book purchases we parted ways and I headed back. It was nice to visit with my friend and catch up. Even with his slightly skewed view on life “AJ” is a good person. That’s all I really care about. A lot of people with his upbringing are usually not. He is a giving person who just wants to see people to succeed and be happy. An example of that is offered to fly my guy out to see me. Though his world view is a bit left of center he’s the kind of friend anyone would want. He’s someone who is smart and funny (sometimes), who offers a different perspective to my life that I wouldn’t even have considered before, he lives in the present and deep down he’s a good hearted, generous person. I’m glad he’s my friend. Check is in the mail. ;)
