Happy Belated Birthday Stephen!

Sometimes I think about people that were in my life on a daily basis long ago that one day just dropped off the face of the earth. Sometimes I no longer wanted a particular person in my life anymore sometimes you just lose touch and sometimes you just move on. Friends drift apart and friends move away or just fall out of favor.

My Wife has been a constant friend since I met her in late 96'. I've had best friends in my life those people that you call whenever you want to share something and those people you want to watch movies with talk about books and tv shows with. There are those people you talk about intimate things with.

In late 1989 just after Highschool ended I went to work at a Picture Frame dept. in a craft store called Bankrupt Crafts, that wasn't really the name but who cares the place doesn't exist anymore. There at the Bankrupt framing department was the dept. manager and his name was Stephen. It is now 2005 and Stephen is still my friend currently longest running friend in my life besides any family member and I'm proud to have him as a friend. He's one thing that a lot of people aren't on this planet. He's honest. He's generous. He's funny. And he's single girls!

Hehe sorry Stephen. Stephen was there when I met my future wife and he was there at the wedding and he's now the God father of our daughter. My wife wants to fix him up so badly and find him the love of his life hehe. Here's to you Stephen and Happy Belated Birthday!

I remember one day back in the early 90's when Stephen and I were bored there in the bankrupt framing laboratories and deciding what we'd do to pass the time. There had already been such hijinx as fishing string on rubber cockroaches and running around the shop with toy guns re-enacting John Woo shootouts during business hours, but today there would be something new. A new creation. Stephen pulled two giant sheets of card board with him on the otherside of his workspace and began cutting with his trusty Exacto blade.

I wanted to see but he insisted I not look till the time was right. "What was he doing?" "What could it be?" I thought with a sweaty anticipation. Was he making a funny sign saying something like "The customer is always wrong Bitch!" or possibly a giant letter 'F' and a giant letter 'U'? No nothing like that.

The time came and he said "Ready?" and began walking, he was holding hands with something 'what was it?'

He had created a cardboard boy! and CARDBOARD BOY WAS BORN! after laughing my ass off as he held hands with his new creation walking him around the shop he went to work on cardboard boys sister CARDBOARD GIRL!

We brought many people to the back of the shop to show them our newfound friends and were met with curiosity and fear. Fear? not really but I thought that read funny. Stephen needs to dig out ol' cardboy boy and girl so I can take a pic for the blog.

The picture here is just something I found online and looks nothing like our Cardboy Boy but I thought would be well suited since Stephen is a talented sculptor.

Sniff, I miss you Cardboard Boy.