Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate

My very favorite Dr. Suess poem is "Too Many Daves".

I love it. Well, I might like "The Sneetches" more, but the "Daves" one fits this story much better.

I, fantastically enough, have a friend named Dave. And the fact that Dave and I are friends astounds me.

I am not usually the type of person who relies on first impressions. I give people a lot of time -too much time in most cases - to show me who they really are. But I hated Dave immediately.

I was working at a Finance company and Dave was newly hired on. He walked in and I quickly and without trepidation plunked him into my "Used Car Salesman" category. He was loud and pushy. And he said things that I didn't like to hear.

If I had to classify myself, I would have to venture down the "liberal, free-thinker" path. Dave does not take this path. His path veered from mine a very, very long time ago. He took the "conservative, faith-driven" path.

Not a terrible path. No path is BAD, really....but I wouldn't have chosen that one in a million years.

The worst thing about Dave is, he thought he was right.

He would argue (Gasp! Can you imagine?) with me over such trifling subjects as marriage, religion, politics, choice....you name it. We were diametrically opposed on all counts.

But for some reason I grew to kind of appreciate him. He could stand behind his belief system. He made great arguments. He made me think. (But not change my mind...oh, no!)

And then one day I realized that I absolutely loved Dave.

Not in the mushy non-productive and imminently destructive sense of the word. But I loved him because of what he believed in. I loved him because he believed in these things and had the balls to let people know it. To fight for it.

Even if he was wrong in his opinions -dammit, at least he had some.

I judged him immediately, but he never judged me. And although it makes me uncomfortable, he probably prayed for me and loved me through my bitchiness because of his faith.

And there must be something to that.

It's been almost a year since I saw Dave. He doesn't live far away, but we have different types of lives. He had a girlfriend and was heading toward that "marriage" thing for all he was worth. And that is time consuming, I hear.

He called yesterday and it was just like we had been keeping in touch forever.

At the beginning of this blog I posted about going camping at his property down by Mt. Rainier. The posts are here and here.

And guess what?

I am going camping there again.

I will not clean under my refrigerator!

I will not drain and clean the pool in the backyard! (I think it may be considered a protected wetland at this point, anyway...)

I will not do laundry!

I will not yell at my kids because I am feeling unfulfilled!

I will go to Dave's! I will visit Dave and his friend Bubba (really, not making that up)! I will take that one bottle of really good wine that someone gave me as a thank you! I will make Smores! I will listen to Dave's weird collection of records that he has at the cabin!

And I will relax.

I don't want to be like the "Too Many Daves" poem where it ends,

"And she didn't do it.
And now it's too late."