Just some random memories....

Not a story, just a few impressions...

When I met Jon, I was a freshman in college and he was a junior. Those who know him will understand this about Jon: from the moment you met him, he treated you like an old friend. And as a freshman, that acceptance was welcome. I will always remember a smiling Jon greeting me at happy hour, behind those tinted glasses, "Hey there, Ca-risss!"

One year, we lived in the same house. Three sophomores (Dan, Dave and me) and three seniors (Stu, Andy and Jon). Jon was fascinated by an ancient gas-powered radiator in my bedroom. I remember he came up to study it, then concluded it was "perfectly safe" to use. He lit the pilot light and fired it up. With a loud whoosh, it came to life. You could peer in one end of the thing, and see blue flames burning inside the radiator. We never burned down, but boy did that thing make me nervous. "Nothing to worry about," he assured me.

During breaks, Jon and I were frequently the only ones in the house. He could always be counted on for conversation. And if there was nothing to be said, that was cool, not uncomfortable. I remember strolling through the darkness of our seemingly deserted neighborhood, kicking west-Philly debris, and stopping at the 7-11 with our scrounged-up pennies for a big gulp.

Jon and I were both frequently broke. The time our house was burglarized, we both lost some stuff, which sucked for both of us. But he didn't seem to let things like that bother him. I remember stumbling into the house with my duffel bag, back from a break. Stu said, "hey, didn't you have a stereo in your room?" Yep. "It's gone. They took Cheese's leather jacket, too." I marched up the stairs, and Jon was sitting there. He flashed me a grin, "Hey there, Carrr-isss!" And the message was simple: hey, its only stuff.