By The Din of the Arcade Light
So last night, at around 9:45, my cell phone rings and the name
that shows up on my call display reads 'Andy Bayer'. I thought
to myself that this was strange because Andy goes to school in
St. Catharines at Brock during the year and I was pretty darn
sure that number, on my call display, is for his phone number at
residence...but he's home in Cobourg for the summer. Perplexing.
I'm perplexed just typing it. Anyways, I answered the phone by saying
'Andy Bayer' and the voice says back 'Matt McKechnie' but it
was NOT andy's voice. Even more perplexing. Then the voice says
'It's Brian Macdonald'. Now there were a few odd factors at play here:
1. I was just thinking about Brian earlier that day.
2. He lives in PEI.
Long story short: Brian is in town this week for a big church/Presby
youth conference happening at Brock all this week. Random. Anyways,
we realized that as the week was getting on (and he had forgotten
my cell number on the island), chances of he and his wife and sarah and I
getting together would be slim, as he had to stay on campus at all times.
So last night, at 11:30, I drove over to Brock and we shot the shyte
for a few hours, re-hashing old and new alike.
As we sat in the lobby of the Brock res, watching the screen
and listening to the Journey-esque music of an antique arcade game that
boasted '39 arcade classics', we watched various screenshots of old
school games like Pacman, Pacman Jr, Donkey Kong(1 to 3), Dig Dug,
Galaga, Combat (or something like it) and many more. What was random
about that antique machine was that for years, Bri and I spawned
a friendship through playing what would be now classified as 'antique'
or 'old school' video games (mostly Sierra, Epyx or Activision) and here
we were, years later, both married, he with child in tow, and in more
complex stages of life, re-united by the glow of a video game system.
What it made me realize though is that if Bri and his family hadn't
moved to the house two doors down from mine in Ottawa, way
back in grade seven, we probably never would have become friends
or been each other's best men in each other's wedding parties. We have
very different personalities, and even very different theological
viewpoints at times, but that doesn't keep us apart. I don't think there
is a theory or equation to friendship - sometimes the ones you think
that will last forever fall to pieces and the ones you wrote off before
they developed end up being super-tight. But in this tumultuos time
of life, I am thankful for a rock in the storm like Brian. Even in saying
little to each other, we said a great deal. Blessings on you, Bonnie and
Abbey.
(Also, Double Props that it was a week of old school hook-ups as
Sarah and I drove to Kitch to see Julie and Nic and Mer and Phil -
the sisters of Sunkissed Keilah, my old band, and friends for many
years. Julie has a cute, cute daughter and Mer is still as wacked
as ever - actually Julie is too. Their husbands are both rad individuals
and I hope Sarah and I live close to them all someday.)
Go and see a friend this week. Just do it.
