[These are necessarily getting shorter as the semester draws to a close. Also, the narrative as I understand it is on its own course, and I'm just writing along. --GFM]

It can be hard to get to know someone from afar, but I think that we did so about as well as two guy friends can, with you in Iowa and me here in Alabama. I do have the tendency to dominate a conversation given my preternatural talkativeness, but you can hold your own when you get a word in edgewise. You may tend to be an introvert, but you do have a lot to say.

We talk about so many varied things that interest the both of us. Frankly, it’s hard to find a ton of things where we truly disagree. If we do differ, it’s usually resolved in a conversation where one of us gives way or we find a middle ground. However that goes, the conversation has as much value to me as the conclusion. I think that’s mainly because in our writing—we never talk on the phone and rarely have time to meet in person—we force ourselves to really decide if those words are what we believe, what we’ve thought. I find a lot of the time that I have to re-think before I write—this is very hard for me, because I’m improvisational when not extemporaneous—and this contemplation does me a good turn.

I am sad that I have as yet been unsuccessful in getting you to move down here, but having you meet the Granades was merely a step in that process.¹ I think that you value good friends as much as I do, and I think that you would have a lot of them if you lived here. [We would adopt you. That's all I'm saying.] That said, you’re doing greater Cedar Rapids a good turn by being a part of that community and living your life there.²

Thank you for being a good friend, for having good words, and for having a ready ear. I can’t really ask for much more than that.³

Geof

1. It was Misty’s idea to have you visit, though. I didn’t bribe her or anything. [↩]
2. But really, please move. [↩]
3. Okay, I could ask for a job, but if you knew of one up there you would’ve already told me about it. [↩]