Jeff and Troy

    Troy and I became friends at what is now Corban College in Salem, Oregon. A handful of us girls transferred in as sophomores and began hanging out together. My main qualification for a friend, (although with my personality I can't be too picky) is that they be able to endure, if not enjoy, my sense of humor. Troy happened to share it. Maybe it is because our birthdays are only one day apart--one day and a couple of years. I might, for a price, be willing to reveal which of us is oldest. My birthday is October 1st, Troy's is October 2nd. Her explanation is that our parents did not go out for New Year's Eve that year. I have long since lost touch with the other gals in our foursome, but all these years later, Troy and I can still pick up where we left off. We don't call each other often, partly because the calls tend to last longer than a 10K marathon.

    I also met Jeff at college in Salem. He was an older/wordly guy by Bible college standards, having already served in the Navy. I had some reservations about Jeff while he and Troy were dating. I wanted to be sure he was good enough for my best friend. Troy was maid of honor at my wedding, which I suppose was not a huge honor because she was my only bridesmaid. I guess that made her more like maid of honorable mention. After I married and moved back to Montana, Troy told me she and Jeff were engaged. In that ancient era, calling out of town meant long distance charges and we were poor. And while present day slackers can pretend to be working by hiding behind the computer on their desks, that was much harder to do with the yellow, legal pads on our desks. All we could do was pretend we were doing work related writing. I had an extremely boring job, so I wrote excessive, probably boring, letters. In my congratulations on your engagement letter to Troy, I remember telling her that she was supposed to wait for the handsome prince, not marry the dragon. 

   But the dragon turned out to be a prince after all, and it was a pleasure to see the way their humor, minds and even sentences meshed together when they interacted. So much so that I cannot even now, knowing he is in heaven, imagine hearing Troy's voice without hearing Jeff's in the background. Just as I, after two years gone, still listen for Tracy's voice on the other end of the phone when Reed gets a call, I will listen for Jeff when I talk to Troy. My mind no longer thinks of one without the other. When God glues a couple together, nothing but death can part them, and even that, not for long.