I ran into a friend of mine from high school at the Piano Lounge. I have not seen Jason in several years, not since he moved to LA to go to acting school. I thought he was a particularly talented actor. He played Bottom in our senior year production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and of all the productions I've seen afterward, I believe his to be the best performance of the role (including Kevin Kline). Jason and I were co-editors of the yearbook, but weren't particularly close. Then of course, I wasn't particularly close to anyone in high school, so Jason was a good a friend as any.

Jason was the first person I knew personally who is gay. He came out of the closet after we got to Iowa City, and of course, the rumors flew back in Wilton. I was naïve when I was a freshman in college. I've often mentioned questioning my beliefs, and this was the one thing I can point to that started that process. Jason was still the same person I planned pages and rehearsed Shakespeare with, but now he was going to hell. I no longer accept that, in part because my friend is gay.

But Jason is back from LA, for now, and I have his phone number, so hopefully we can get together some time. It was so funny. I caught his gaze from across the bar, and it took a moment before I registered recognition. My jaw dropped, and I went over and got a huge bear hug. He told me he'd been trying to get my attention for like, half an hour. Me and my tunnel vision. We exchanged the obligatory life story since we'd seen one another, and what we knew about other friends. He said, "Huh. I expected you to be married with like, twenty kids by now." It took me a couple beats to decide how to answer that. I finally settled on, "Yeah, me too." He nodded. "Yeah, hardly anyone gets the life they expected to live. Look at me."

That struck me, as MC Mike had said the exact same thing to me not a week before: "Hardly anyone seems to get the life they imagined." It's times like these, when the same message seems to get pounded into my brain over and over, that make me wonder if God is trying to tell me something.