I have a rule that I link blogs by family, friends, or friends of the family – no
questions asked. I’ve just added a blog by a friend of the family, Matt Rossi. He’s
a good friend of my sister, but we knew each other before he ever met my sis. I’ll
let Matt explain.

“Back in the day, when my wardrobe consisted almost exclusively of tie-dye and I had my hair long and walked around with a peace symbol necklace around my neck (this was, oddly enough, not more than a decade or so ago), I was friends with a kid named Eric Williams. Eric was a year older than me, was a classic rock fan like me, and he was so pale that when he stood in the sunlight, you got kind of sonogram picture of his heart beating through his chest. Seriously. I think we met in gym class during that first week of school when the gym teachers sat everyone down on the bleachers and paced back and forth, sizing up who was going to be a good gym student, who would be kind of a whiny weakling, and who would just generally not buy into the fact that gym was an integral part of their academic studies. Eric and me…we were in that last group. Or so I remember.”

I don’t remember being sized up, but I do recall meeting in gym class. We were a couple idealistic smartass who were too intelligent and brutally honest for our own good – or safety. 😉

“Anyway, years passed and as happens, I lost touch with Eric. I dated his sister Katie for a good chunk of my senior year of high school, became friends with her, then became sort of not friends with her, then became really good friends with her, and now have the honor of calling her daughter my niece. It’s been kind of a saga is what I’m getting at, here. The last time I saw Eric was at Katie’s wedding, and he had grown considerably from this skinny little pale kid into a not so terribly skinny or pale adult (Katie did this, too…round about her twenties she gained the ability to tan…I think the melatonin gene must just be a late bloomer in this family) who can dance like…well, like I will never be able to dance in my life. Anyway, he and I didn’t get to chat much, but I was impressed with him nonetheless.”

Most of the growing I’ve done since high school is in my gut. :/ When I graduated from high school, I weighed 140 pounds. By the start of my sophomore year of college, I was up to 166. That looked ok on my 5’8″ frame. The problem is I didn’t stop gaining there. I finally peaked at 205. I probably weighed close to that when my sister got married in October of ’02. I eventually started exercising and eat better, got down to 180, bounced back up again, and have been steady at just under 190 for a while now. I bet that’s more than you ever wanted to know about my weight. 😉 Oh, by the way, I’m still pale. My wife is, too. Our poor children will have to be careful to not get lost in the snow. 😉

I appreciate the complement about my dancing. I get that a lot. It’s still kind of weird for a former hard-core wall flower like me to have a reputation for tearing up dancefloors. Sometimes I feel like people are talking about some other guy who’s way cooler than me. Anyhow, Matt has nothing to be ashamed of. He’s done things I’ve never done – never had the guts to do. He’s been in stage productions. That takes guts. Dancing like a nut at weddings is fun, but I doubt it’s as fulfilling as performing for a paying audience.

“This is all back story to say that Katie e-mailed me today to ask if Eric could link to my blog from his. Of course he can, I said, though apparently our opinions are in stark contrast many times. He, for example, is Catholic. I am not. Which has never really been a problem for me in the past, but it makes me wonder if I will soon find myself arguing a lot. I do hope not. I lost my taste for argument sometime in college, when surrounded by Christians of every shape, size, and fanaticism, I discovered I could not win and just decided to set down the sword.”

I don’t anticipate any uncivil arguing. Perhaps Matt doesn’t recall my love of vigorous informal debate. 😉 I won’t shove anything down his or anyone else’s throat, though. I do my best to keep my readers happy and interested without forcing any of my opinions or beliefs on them. Matt’s already contributed an informative comment. Hopefully, he’ll come back and leave more. As I recall, he’s a very funny and intelligent fellow.

I don’t know what Matt’s blog, Here There Be Whales, is about yet, but I look forward to finding out. Maybe if we’re lucky, he’ll post a couple embarassing pictures of himself like I did. 😉