Dire Straits was a cassette my dad had in his truck. On our way up north, my grandpa, dad, and I would play both sides the entire two hour ride. I was too little to see over the hood, so I sat on this big fluffy pillow in between my grandpa and my dad. We wore Dire Straits tape out... his tape player in the truck might have eaten it, but I like to think we wore it out. Instead of simply replacing it, we mailed it to my brother Tommy when he went to college in Daytona to see if he could fix it. After highschool, Tommy went to American Motorcycle Institute (AMI) to get a certified Harley Mechanic degree.
I went to Holy Angels, which was a catholic school in Darboy Wisconsin. It was called Darboy USA, because Darboy (unincorporated) didn't show up on a Wisconsin state map. Ironically, it did show up on a map of the entire United States. Darboy was sort of an "in between" area in the midst of many cities. It's very near Appleton, Kimberly, Comined Locks, Kaukauna and Menasha. So other than "the boon docks," it was always hard to describe exactly where I went to school. Most people had never heard of it... unless of course they were an adult.
I don't remember if it was pre-school or kindergarten, but my first two friends in Holy Angels were Eric and Nick. Nick was somehow related to me through his mom and my grandma... so I was his fourth cousin or something. Eric's grandparents owned the "Dairyland's Best" local dairy: Lamers Dairy, which made the best milk (especially chocolate milk) around.
My first ever sleep over was at Nick's house. Eric and I went over there with our sleeping bags. We were read a story by Nick's cousin Sara I think... who would end up being a summer park leader in coming years. Other than that I remember Nick had the biggest toy rooms I'd ever seen. It was like an empty bedroom just FULL of toys. I couldn't believe it.
The next morning, we went outside on his porch. Eric and Nick had a couple toys that made noise... I think one of them was a He-Man vehicle that rattled when it moved. They started "practicing" between each other. I asked "what are you guys doing?" They said they were practicing their song. They had a band. All excited, I wanted to be in the band. They responded "you probably don't know the song we do." So they started playing it... and it was Money For Nothing by Dire Straits! I was through the roof at that point. "I know that song! Can I be in the band?" Between all three of us, none of us knew the entire song. We were pretty much just singing the chorus and making noise with toys. The band didn't even have a name. But for those 5 minutes... we were the coolest band ever.
Money For Nothing had an awesome video too. Lots of animation, seemed like it was made with kids in mind. I do remember the words a little differently. The current radio version is edited! There was a politically incorrect line in the song about "that little faggot, he's a millionaire." In the early to mid-80's, it was very common in our town for teens to make fun of somebody by calling them a faggot or queer. Today however, that's not the case. The song on the radio and video has been edited and the offensive language removed.
The next morning, we went to this two-story Burger King on College Avenue in Appleton to get kids meals. The "kid's cup" was a He-Man cup with a comic printed around the outside. I still have it.
Eric lived much closer to me. I remember he was over and we were outside on my swingset. We were talking about best friends and who they were. I had never really thought about "best" friend much, but I said a little too quickly that Nick was my best friend. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because we were related in some small way, or that we had the same name, maybe cause of his room full of toys... who knows? I knew right away that it was the wrong answer. Who was I on my swingset with? Eric said his best friend was ME. The right answer. And I thought that was the coolest thing anyone ever said to me. I'm not sure if he remembers this, but my answer to the "best friend" question was one of the first things I ever said that I totally regretted and never verbally took back. As time progressed, thankfully, it was as if I had never said that.
We were not the 3 amigos forever. Nick would end up going to a different grade school. In fact, that sleep over I think was the only time I really hung out with Nick outside of school. Eric, on the other hand, would stay my best friend. We both went to the same school until 1998 when we left for different colleges. In time, Eric would end up being the first phone number I memorized, the first kid's house I ever biked to, and the only kid I ever biked to school with. I can guarantee you'll see Eric's name throughout my autobiography. Good friends, especially ones you can say you've had since 1985, are pretty rare.
