Mr. IV

Is everyone ready for a little Roman Numeral humor? Great! I have a friend today, who I will call Mr. IV, because I've known him "IVever!" Get it?. Oh-ho! Classic.

My parents had some best friends who had IV sons. Two of them were fairly close to my own age, and even though my family moved a lot growing up, these friends were always a part of our lives. Today, I'm going to talk about the oldest son, Mr. IV. Mr. IV has always been really a good natured sort. He has a really loud infectious laugh that makes you laugh even if things stink. Our childhood friendship included things like jumping on the trampoline in his backyard, playing computer games, planning to recreate movies (like Anastasia) in play form for our parents, telling jokes, swimming, and doing all the fun things that kids do. When my family lived in California, his mom came out with him and his brothers to visit us even though they lived in Utah. We have pictures of all of us at the beach being buried in the sand and having sand boobs. We were kind of weird.

As we got older, my family moved to Utah, but our families kind of grew apart a little, and we didn't see each other as often, but when we did, we had a good time. I still think of Mr. IV's family like my cousins. I love 'em to death. When we graduated high school, Mr. IV and I hung out more. He wasn't as comfortable around girls as I was, so I set him up on a date one time when we went to the only decent Roller Coaster park in Utah. Unfortunately, I set him up with his 2nd cousin. He laughed about it and had a good time. We both left on our LDS missions around the same time, and we got to see each other off as he went to Europe, and I went to the best state in the USA to share the good news.

Jump ahead a few years, and of our two families that were really close, he and I probably talk the most out of anyone on either side. That doesn't amount to much since we only talk from time to time. But we still hung out a enough to know what was happening in one another's lives. When I was dating my then-future-wife, we went to the Malt Shoppe near us and sang along with a Karaoke machine "One Week"  by the Barenaked Ladies in harmony, which highly impressed my girlfriend at the time. We did several other things together where I feel like I did my small part in encouraging him to ask out a girl he really liked, and he totally manned up and went for it.

As things got serious between them, she knew she had to tell him something that may very well make or break their relationship. Mr. IV's girlfriend at the time had MS, for which there is no known cure. Mr. IV wasn't deterred. He totally loved this girl, and married her. They have the same struggles as a lot of new married couples (we're all a little young and a little poor) but he's happy. You know why? Because he's always happy. He just is.

I've reread and tinkered with the writing of this post a little bit. In all honesty, I can't quite depict this friend very well. We've been friends forever. I'm glad I have him. He is optimistic, and I think he likes everyone. He's not a doormat, but he's got a good heart, and I think it's the epitome of masculinity to be willing to marry someone who he may have to take care of while she's suffering for a long time. I hope they find a cure, and I'm sure he does, too. But it's not like he's going to jump ship if they don't.  I really look up to my friend.