Making Friends

How did you meet your friends?

Here are some normal answers:
- We met in school
- We met at work
- We met at church
- We met through mutual friends

Here are some NOT normal answers:
- We met in an online hunting tips forum
- We met while shopping for raspberries in Meijer

Why is my husband such a weirdo?  He spent last weekend in northern Michigan with a guy that he met in an online forum while we were still in Nevada (you can read that story here).  They're now great friends.  If that wasn't weird enough for you, check out this story from around two weeks ago:

Rex and I were grocery shopping at Meijer, having a jolly good time.  Rex noticed that raspberries were on sale 2/$1.00  (can we just pause a moment and realize what an AWESOME deal that is?!  Fifty cents for a container of raspberries!?).  He said, "Hey Christine, look!  Raspberries are on sale!"  I told him to go ahead and grab some, and he said, "I will, as long as this guy doesn't take all of them!"  He was joking with the guy in front of him, who was stocking up on the aggressively-priced raspberries.  The guy turned around to laugh at Rex's joke, and he noticed that Rex was wearing a Kimber hat.

In case you don't get what that means (like 95% of the population wouldn't), Kimber is apparently some fancy brand of gun.  There.  Now you know. Raspberry man commented on it and said, "Cool hat, man.  Do you shoot around here?"  They started talking about guns, and I moseyed off to get some cilantro.  I started to walk back to the raspberries, but they were still talking.  Okay...so I went to get onions.  And then some cereal.  And then some candy, because...well...why not?  They were still talking.  Finally I just joined the conversation, because we had everything on our grocery list and I had already added enough random junk while waiting for Rex to be done talking.

Rex introduced me to Eric (because apparently raspberry man has a name now).  It turns out that Eric's dad has 1,000 acres of hunting land in South Dakota, which makes Eric Rex's new best friend.  Rex was definitely dressed like a hunter with his Kimber hat, Carhartt jacket, camo shirt, and scruffy beard.  This part of the conversation cracked me up:

Eric:  So, what do you do for a living?
Rex: I'm a physical therapist.
Eric: *long pause*  Really?
Rex: Yeah.
Eric: I don't mean to be stereotypical or anything, but that is totally not what I was expecting you to say.

Bwahahahaha!  Yes, my man is a bit redneck and super country, but he is also super smart and has a doctorate.  I get the best of both worlds.  Wife win.  Eric's wife is a teacher, which is pretty cool.  Eric and Mrs. Eric are only a year older than Rex and me, and they've been married almost the exact same amount of time as us.  It turns out that we have a lot in common.  Eric, Rex, and I were having a good time chatting, and suddenly Eric said, "Hey, as a physical therapist, is it hard for you to get time off?"  My ears instantly perked up.  Was he about to ask what I thought he was going to ask?  Was he going to make Rex's day/month/year/life and ask him to go to South Dakota on a hunting trip?  Rex has always wanted to go to South Dakota.  Whenever I ask him, "If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" his answer is, "On a really cool hunting trip to somewhere awesome, like South Dakota."  I kid you not.  That's what he says. Like South Dakota. And now, right here next to the raspberries, was a guy who could make that dream come true. I mentally willed him to invite Rex on a trip.  Come on, Eric!  Make it happen!

Sure enough, Eric said, "Well, I know this is really short notice, but I'm headed out to visit my dad on the 14th to hunt for a few days.  If you could get the time off, I'd love for you to go so I don't have to drive all that way by myself.  We could hunt deer in the morning and and night, and then hunt pheasants during the day.  We could stay with my dad, so really you would just need to pay for half of the gas and your licenses and that's it."  Let me put this in perspective for everyone who isn't like my weird-yet-awesome husband:  this is the equivalent of someone coming up to you and saying, "Hey, I have this extra ticket for a cruise around the world that I'm not using - do you want it?"

I literally almost gasped when he invited Rex on the trip.  I may have actually gasped... I can't be quite sure.  I couldn't believe this was actually happening.  Neither could Rex, really.  He and that guy exchanged numbers, set up some preliminary plans, and then we went to check out.  Rex had this shell-shocked look on his face like, "What just happened?  Is this real life?"

As I type these words, Rex is having the time of his life in South Dakota.  He's texted me pictures of the hunting grounds, and he says he's seen the biggest bucks he's seen in his whole life.  He hasn't gotten one in close enough to shoot yet, but hey - he's only been there for a day.  The point is, he's having a great time, and it's all because the raspberries were on sale.

And also because he steadfastly refuses to make any friends in any normal ways.