(Side note - at the time I had a fever blister on my bottom lip the size of a half-dollar. Dr. D had given me some new medicine to apply to it that basically turned it black and crusty. So now picture a black, crusty bottom lip, with bright pink lipstick all around the borders so that no one will notice... OK... continue)
Anyway, this guy with a flat top walks in, and yells out my name. Is MHT here? (Well actually MH at the time) I meekly raise me hand, "Here." He walks up and sits next to me and starts this conversation like he knows me. He starts talking about Houma and he is the same age etc... I am totally clueless, but trying to play along. Then the presentation starts. The entire time, I am trying to listen to the speaker, but I really am trying to figure out who this guy is and how he knows my name. About halfway through, he leans over and presses something into my hand while whispering, "You forgot your license in the library copy machine."
And so my friendship with #33 began. Turns out he was a fellow PT student from Luling. He had attended Nicholls and he was my age (19 at the time). About 2 weeks into school, he told us that just before PT school started, he had married his high school sweetheart and they had a 2 week old baby at home. He called her "Rooster" because as soon as he tried to go to sleep, she would cry and wake him up. After a few months, his wife returned to college to finish her teaching degree. Let's just say, their life was very hectic. Both new parents, newlyweds, and both trying to complete very demanding ciriculums. Anyway, the best place for #33 to study was at school. He rode to and from the city with his father in law who did not get off of work until 7:00 most nights, so 4 out of 5 days a week, #33 and I would go to the library after classes let out and study together. He helped me pass physiology and I helped him pass anatomy. We talked out case studies and quizzed each other with flash cards on the OINA. (Which I can still pretty much spit out verbatum, like all good memorized material, at any time...Stands for the Origin, Insertion points, Nerve inervations, and actions of all of the muscles in the body)
We quickly became good friends. PT school usually started around 8:00 AM and we usually were in class until 3:00 - 4:00. Then, he and I would head to the library for the study sessions. That means for 2 years, I probably was in his company for about 8-10 hours 5 days a week. Since then, I have seen him once and talk to him every couple of years on the phone. He now owns a couple of PT clinics in Luling. His baby rooster is now in her twenties, and he has two other younger children. When I look back at my PT school time, I know that having him as a friend and study partner made my life much easier. He kept me studying when I really wanted to go home and crash. He made me study during the week so that my weekends were free. He helped me when I didn't understand while at the same time stealing all my notes! He was definitely the listener and I was the note taker.
As I work my way through my 365 people, I am realizing that, outside of my family, many different friends have come and gone through the years. I have many friends that I do not talk to often enough, but at the same time I know that I can pick up the phone any given day and it would be as if we last spoke yesterday. I feel very blessed to have these friends even though our paths have veered in opposite directions.
So, I guess the moral of this story is, even when you do something stupid (leaving license) and look like an aborigine (fever blister) and are so nervous because you know no one (1st day of PT school), your path may lead you to a new friend.
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