Remembering Joe Crane

It took me a couple of days to sit down and write this. I didn't really know where to post it, so I thought my blog (although it's mainly about football) would be a perfect place for me to have an outlet for this. On Thursday afternoon, an old friend of mine contacted me to inform me that another old friend of mine had passed away. I didn't know what to think at the time. I hadn't seen the guy in 10 years or so, but it still felt like I lost one of my closest friends. There's a saying that goes around that states "You never forget your first friends". I never even gave a second thought to that statement before Thursday. Now though? I completely understand it. 

When I was 7-8 years old, I moved to Forest Grove, Oregon. I didn't know anyone and I was worried about making friends (the problems we had when we were young....). That issue got resolved right away. My dad introduced me to one of his old high school buddies and it just so happens that his buddy had a pair of twins that were right in my brother and I's age group. When we first met them, there was no awkwardness or anything else you feel when you meet someone new for the first time. The four of us hit it off and we were completely inseparable. When I say "inseparable", I mean "inseparable". There wasn't a day that went by where we didn't see each other. There wasn't a weekend that went by where we weren't spending the night at the other person's house. I know we were all just friends, but at times it felt more like we were brothers.

Most of my favorite memories from when I was a kid involved Joe and Jon. I always remember hanging out in their old rickety tree house that was one good storm away from not existing anymore (an earthquake in the early-90's took care of it for good). I'll remember watching wrestling with them and them wondering why the hell I liked it so much. I'll remember the love they had for kittens, the kooky religious Asian lady who lived behind them and would always try and talk to us when we were playing. I'll remember going to Portland on Tri-Met and picking out punk rock vinyls and going home and locking ourselves in my room listening to them. I'll always remember going camping up at Ollalie Lake for a week at a time or when Joe tried to dunk a basketball and ended up falling on 

his ass (this first words out of his mouth were "Dustin, you better not be laughing"....and I totally was). Those are some of my earliest memories and they've stuck with me for a reason. 

We all eventually grew apart though, because that's life and that's what happens. People take different trails in life and it's all about just getting back to the camping spot, no matter which trail you decide to take. 

One day about ten years ago, I was sitting in my car on a random Portland road waiting for one of my friends to perform in a show. While waiting in my car, I noticed a stranger walking my way who I couldn't take my eyes off of. As the guy got closer, I noticed it was my old buddy Joe Crane! I was ecstatic because I hadn't seen Joe in years. It didn't matter that we hadn't seen each other in years though because our ten-minute conversation just flew by. I don't remember who ended the conversation, but had I known it was going to be the last time I ever saw him, it definitely would have gone on longer than ten stinking minutes. 

After running into Joe in Portland, I started looking for him anytime I was in Portland. 

"I ran into him once, I should run into him again real soon, right?"

That's what I thought, so it didn't matter where I was at, I was looking for him. Now that he's gone forever, it's going to be weird going to Portland and not looking for him. 

It doesn't matter if you're not here anymore, I'll still be looking for you. 

Forever and always. 

Until we meet again.