One day, completely out of the blue, my cousin contacted me through MySpace. Now, I think I’ve mentioned on here that I totally hate MySpace for many different reasons. No offense to anyone who might really like it, but every time I have to go on there, I get annoyed. :) I love the people with whom I have been able to keep in touch, and I loved it when Aaron got a hold of me through it, but I still hate it. I still toy daily with cancelling my account, etc. But that is neither here nor there.
Aaron and I met somewhere between 1st and 3rd grade at Small World Christian Elementary. He quickly became a close friend of mine, and we always talked about how cool it would be if we were cousins. At this particular school, when class was over, you would go on the playground (or in the gym if it was raining) and just play until they announced over the louspeaker “Chris and Erica Dow, time to go home. Chris and Erica Dow, time to go home.” You would then go to the office, where your parents would be waiting to take you home.
One day, we were playing on the playground as usual, when they announced, “Chris and Erica Dow, time to go home. Aaron and Leah Codoni, time to go home.” We were excited as each of us would get to meet each others’ parents at last. When we got up to the office, our parents were talking like old friends, and we were somewhat baffled. We were informed at that time that we were cousins, at which time we acted like idiot kids, running around the playground, coatroom, etc., shouting at the top of our lungs…as kids are wont to do.
Anyway, we spent a great deal of time together for many years thereafter. We each had our own sets of friends, but we loved going over to each others’ houses, and we often spent the night there, just staying up all night and being goofy. I’ve often said that I picked up my sense of humor from my dad, but recently, I’ve been reminded that much of my sense of humor and whatever creativity I posess, including my storytelling style, was developed with Aaron. Together we filmed movies, music videos, and created radio shows. We killed each other countless times playing guns (and we’re not homicidal maniacs…imagine that!) We played many video games. We tied his brother to a chair. (Really, we did. He was being annoying. And apparently, he still remembers that and tells it frequently. LOL.) Our collective childhood was pretty screwed up, looking back. It’s not the experience I want to provide to my kids, that is for sure. But we survived, a little worse for wear.
At the beginning of my Christian walk, I had met a girl named Jennifer, who is Gabe’s sister. I introduced Aaron to Gabe’s family, and we often spent entire Sundays together, just hanging out. Aaron and I got less close as the relationship with Jennifer took precedence in my life. Aaron started hanging out with another mutual friend, and then as my relationship with Jennifer disintegrated, I left the church. Around the same time, Aaron and Chris (the mutual friend) sort of went their own ways as well, and I don’t think I saw Aaron much after that, if at all. That was around 10 years ago or so.
Anyway, to make a long story boring, after Aaron contacted me we talked about getting together to hang out. I invited him over to my house along with Gabe, and we just talked late into the night about old times, newer times, etc. He remembers stuff about our childhood that I don’t, and I remembered stuff that he doesn’t…but there were some stories that we were able to remind each other about, and there was MUCH laughter. He told me a story about a tarantula in his truck that will give me the jeebs for YEARS to come, I think. (shudder) I told him stories about me and spiders wherein I screamed like a little girl. As I said…there was much laughter.
In hanging out with Aaron, I realized where my storytelling style was formed. I remembered much of how much we laughed when we were growing up. I remembered that we helped keep each other comfortably insane enough to survive in a world of drugs, alcohol, and being left alone for days at a time. Gabe laughed at stories that I hadn’t yet told him, and Aaron laughed at stories that I pulled out of the mist of long ago memory. It was the most fun I have had in a long time, and it felt so good to hang out with the person in the world outside my immediate family who has known me the longest.
Aaron has returned from a life of bad stuff to the Lord. The Lord drew him back to Himself, and His Holy Spirit has helped him to stay there. It really is awesome to see the Lord working in someone’s life. I heard through my sister some of the things Aaron was going through, and I prayed for him, but I didn’t know if I could renew the friendship back then. I didn’t know if I could successfully start hanging out with him again when he was in the middle of some bad stuff. He would have resented me, and he would have chosen his friends over me every time. Looking back, the Lord was at work in Aaron’s life, keeping him from dying when everything he did should have killed him. Eventually drawing Aaron back to Himself, after which Aaron and I can renew a friendship without resentment. Where Aaron can come to Bible study, knowing that we’ll always welcome him.
The Lord is wonderful, and I thank Him for the blast we had last night. Here’s to many more to come! (clink!)
