I met Rob at a Boy Scout campout at Louisville State Park on a cold, dreary weekend in the fall of 1982. He was wearing a winter coat, a stocking cap, and a baggy pair of blue jeans on his broad and bulky, five foot five, 170 pound frame. He was the smileless, volatile, twelve-year-old son of hard core bikers, and was quick to threaten anyone who irritated him. As Rob got to know me better, he began to lighten up.

Rob and I went to many Boy Scout functions together and began to get along pretty well. He got the concept that he didn't need to threaten me because I had no intention of harming him. I also think he respected my physical strength. My ability to make friends may have also played a role in Rob and I getting along. If people must spend time together, they must get along or fight for position. In the case of Rob and I, fighting would have been a no win situation. If we were going to be around each other, we would need to get along with each other.

In the summer of 1983, Rob and I went on a Boy Scout High Adventure trip to the Philmont Scout Ranch in the arid mountains of New Mexico for a rugged ten day backpacking trip. We were tent partners, and got to know each other much better on that trip. That summer we also went to summer camp together for five days. Rob still threatened other kids, but we got along fine. Then the summer was over, and back to school we went.

I had enrolled at Monroe Junior High School for the fall of 1983 to be with Rob and my other friends. Rob and I were in the same gym class, chorus class, and math class that year, and had lunch at the same time as well. We were notoriously goofy, and tried to play with people’s minds every chance we could get. We would have ultrasonic arguments (staged of course), arm wrestling matches (twenty feet apart), would try to shake hands and miss, and did Cheech and Chong type humor with a "drug" called air. For the use of more entertaining conversation, we invented our own version of spoonerism ("oonerspism") . We made quite an impression on the teachers that year. Then school was out, and it was back to summer!

The summer of 1984, I went to Rob's house almost every day. Rob had a VCR and cable TV, and we would watch movies and run around all day. To fill our huge "Kwick Kwencher" cups with Mountain Dew and buy junk food, we would bicycle to the Kwick Shop several times a day . We would go shopping for records, tapes, monster guitar amplifiers, space hats, and hit fast food stores. Rob and I continued to stay active in Boy Scouts, and they actually let us be Day Camp Counselors. We tried to convince everybody at the day camp that we were from outer space, and were somewhat successful, as far as that went. It was a great summer! Then the summer was over and back to Monroe Junior High School we went.

Rob finally had developed his unique sense of humor in the fall of 1984. We had the same gym teacher that year, Mr. Holston. When Mr. Holston read the role for the class, my name was right after Rob's. After realizing this, Mr. Holston promptly put his head into his hands, nodded his head from side to side and said, "Not you two again." In Mr. Holston’s gym class, we perfected tackle basketball, and kamikaze football (among other things). When I did pull-ups, Rob would stand and count each repetition. After I did several pull-ups, Rob would add the word "oompaloompas" after each number he counted. It would crack me up so bad I would have to stop.

Rob and I were also in the same chorus class again, were in the same World Geography class and had the same English teacher, Mrs. Kauffman. Rob enjoyed telling Mrs. Kauffman about all the crazy antics that we did together:

"Me and John went to McDonald's and...", and then Rob was interrupted by Mrs. Kauffman.

"You mean John and I?" Mrs. Kauffman asked.

"Not you and John, me and John!" Rob said with a smirk.

Mrs. Kauffman just grinned and shook her head. This conversation between Rob and Mrs. Kauffman was frequently repeated with slight variations:

"Me and John are gunnu (GUH-noo) go camping and...", and then Rob was interrupted by Mrs. Kauffman.

"You mean John and I are going to go camping?" Mrs. Kauffman asked.

"Not you and John, me and John are gunnu go!" Rob said with a smirk.

It was Rob's own brand of humor.

The most fun Rob and I had was the day after Halloween of 1984 (We had gym class on Halloween day). To make fun of the stupid parachute pants that the break dancers were wearing, we decided to make our own pants out of trash bags! Rob came over to my house Halloween night, and we got out the scissors, duct tape, and Hefty Lawn and Leaf Bags and went to work making them into pants. Rob used the green side out for his pants, and I used the black side out for my trash bag trousers. The pants made a loud crinkling noise when we walked down the crowded hallway at Monroe Junior High.

The students had great difficulty containing their laughter as Rob and I crinkled down the hall with our custom designed, high gloss, polymer trousers. Surprisingly, the break dancers actually liked our pants. They asked if they were the new Nike pants. Rob and I told them they were (a lie). When break dancers asked us how much they cost, Rob and I told them they were about "two ninety-nine for ten." When Rob and I went to our World Geography class, the teacher asked us to stand up so he could see our pants. Our teacher then asked us where we got the pants. Rob and I told him we got them at Baker's (a supermarket). Our teacher was quite amused.

It was then time for Rob and I to choose the high school that we wanted to go to the next year. Rob chose to go to Central High and I chose Northwest. Rob and I continued to stay active in the Boy Scout program, but going to the different high schools was when we started to drift apart. We no longer had anyone we could be goofy with. I reverted into a lonely shell, while Rob gradually became the smileless, volatile, son of hard core bikers that he was when we first met. I know that under that tough shell, there is the fun, goofy, smart aleck Rob that I remember.