Wayne
Known Since: 1981
Resides In: Sacramento, CA
Wayne would officially be my second oldest friend in the world. We met in the 7th grade, when he showed at my school, Sacramento Union Academy. If memory serves (and it doesn't always serve well when you're talking about this many years), I seem to recall we didn't really start hanging out until the 8th grade. Either way, we quickly became the best of friends, along with Tim and our friend Manuel. The four of us formed a core group that stayed friends through junior high and through high school (we got down to three when Manuel left after junior year). Wayne was into the same dude stuff as Tim and I, comics and movies and sci fi and such. We all spent a lot of time together, both during the school year and staying out each others houses over the summers. Wayne has a really great family, and I started to feel like part of it I was over there so much. We spent a lot of our junior high and early high school being the more comic-book loving, role playing games kind of guys (so, of course, chicks were lined up around the block...).
It was our senior year, though, when Wayne and I both really hit the social scene together. We both started drinking about the same time, and became part of our senior year crew of partying guys and gals that hung together and made the most of our weekends (as opposed to, say, doing something smart like studying...). We were each other's wingmen back during those times, foraging through new ground and experiences together. Dumb as we were (hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it?), we managed to have a really great time as seniors. Midnight movies, parties, stealing street signs (don't ask), spray-painting the senior wall (yes, everyone who's ever wondered who was behind that, the truth is out...it was me and Wayne), hanging out at Denny's at all hours, dropping by all the girls' houses, and, as alluded to earlier, doing a lot of dumb things. But hey...at least we did them together. Wayne managed in there somewhere to end up a pretty good high school athlete, too, winning track and field ribbons and being a speed demon on the basketball court. Among our big memories of that year were our band and choir trip to the World's Fair in Canada (we were both in choir, though neither of us could sing. Hey, it was a way to get on band and choir trips...), where we were seated on the infamous Green Bus with most of our buddies and had a stellar time, and our senior trip to L.A. and Catalina where managed to party under the radar with our teachers along. He and I and Everett were kind of the core of our group that year, and the summer that followed it. Seems like the three of us were always together, be it on weekends or on trips down to San Diego and Tijuana (ah, the memories of Long Bar in T.J.).
The summer after our senior year, though a bit of a haze at times, was a very memorable one for me, a time of new experiences and endless days where responsibility had yet to claim us and life just seemed like it was so full of possibility. When that summer ended, Wayne moved in with me and became my first roommate. My folks worked in construction management and were on a job for a few months out of town, leaving Wayne and my sister and I to take care of the house. They had no problem with this as Wayne was, for many years, pretty much a part of the family. That was a great period, too, both of us starting college together, hanging out by the pool, cranking Floyd on the stereo and trying to pass classes. We hung out with our high school pal Kris a lot back then, too. But those lazy days soon passed, and Wayne decided he didn't like the direction his life was taking. He was lost as to where he was headed. So he decided to join the Navy. That was a big thing for me. One of my best friends was leaving...for years. I'd never had to deal with anything like that before. On his last night, we went out with a lot of the gang, and it ended with Wayne and I back in our room (we had bunk beds, which added to the dorm room feel of our life), talking over old times and drinking the last of the beers in the evening's ice chest. He got a couple of hours of sleep before he had to wake up and get his things together, as his recruiter was picking him up to get him off to his naval career. We shook hands there at the door as he left, and an era ended.
A lot changed for both of us in the years that followed. We both went in different directions and became very different people. I'd see him those rare times he'd be home on leave, and listen to all his great tales of his world travels. And we'd talk about the old days, which we did still have in common. But then life took us different places (me to Arizona, him finally back to Sac after the Navy days, and then me off to San Diego), and we kind of lost touch. It's sad that that has to happen, but unfortunately, it does in life. But the great thing about long-term friendship is that it never really goes away. I'm sure our paths will get back on track again soon, and we'll be back in touch, and catching up, and finding out what kind of people we've turned into. I'm sure there will be many new stories to share. Though we've now been out of touch for several years now, he definitely still has a solid place on the friend page here, and always will. There are certain kinds of friendships that just don't have expiration dates. Who knows? Maybe we'll get together again one of these days and spray-paint a wall or two. Just for old times' sake...
Random Me and Wayne Memory: That time we got the grand idea to cook dinner for Kara and Kristen at the house during the post-Senior summer. We pulled it off pretty good for having no idea what we were doing in the kitchen. I don't think Kris minded us having a romantic dinner with his girlfriend, do you?
