Day 2: Old Friends

Day Two:  A picture of you and the person you have been close with for the longest.

I didn't have a picture, so I had to take two from the most recent time we were both around the same cameras and put them together!  So, this is Alex (in his role as Joseph Smith) and me (in my role as Lehi) at a youth conference in 2008.  

Aside from my parents and older siblings, Alex is the first friend of my conscious memory, and we were around each other pretty much from day one (not yesterday's day one--the day one that happened like two decades ago).  His mom was my babysitter around the time he was born, so I'm guessing that's how we met . . . though we would have grown up together anyway, since we lived in the same ward (which in Utah means really, really close).  As a kid I practically lived at his house, doing all sorts of things from video games and trampoline wars to playing baseball and building (and rebuilding) a clubhouse.

Even though he was almost a year younger than me, he was always the example I looked up to; and even after we got more involved in our own separate interests and social circles during junior high and high school, he was still always there to encourage me during the tough times, in addition to church and Young Men's activities.  I especially remember during my sophomore year when I always seemed to have a chip on my shoulder, he and his brother Spencer would make sure I knew about things like dances and seminary activities, and disarm all the excuses I used to get out of going.  That really helped me a lot, and the whole family is like that--just excellent models of faith, fellowship, and diligence.  I believe that one of the reasons I turned out the way I did was all the time I hung around them (and all remain good friends to this day).

After high school, Alex and I were coworkers twice, and the second time it was he who convinced the manager to hire me.  The funds that resulted from that job would contribute much to my mission, for which I am indeed grateful.  Now my friend is on his own mission, wrestling alligators in Florida (and I'm not lying about those alligators, either).  I look forward to when we meet again.