bigjohnsblog.com

I grew up in a little racing town, you may have heard of it…. Talladega, Alabama.  I attended Graham Elementary School, and after a transition to being away from home, I asked my parents to let me ride the bus to school…cause it looked so much fun!

That’s where I met Terrence Turner in 1981.  He’s my age, somewhere in this universe…and he became my best friend from K-2 grades—> 2 of the toughest years of my life. 

 Terrence was my first close friend outside of my immediate family.   He’s African American, and he had a Michael Jackson jacket.  We attended school together just a few years after integration of public schools in Alabama, but we didn’t know what that was.  We just knew we all loved being in school together. 

I don’t have any pictures of us together, and I wouldn’t recognize him if I saw him today, but I can recognize what he did—-he was my first best friend from school.   K-2 was the worst of times.  In 1st grade, my grandmother was murdered back in Mississippi.   In 2nd grade, my parents split up.  Terrence was there through it all.  Then, in the winter of 1982, my mom, baby brother and I left Talladega in a Uhaul truck.  I never saw or heard from him again. 

I have several favorite memories of Terrence.   We played games everyday at recess.  He was infinitely faster than me, but he always picked me to be on his team.  I was way loyal to the kid.  One day, he got in trouble during class, and had to miss half of recess.  I was so sad I got in trouble on purpose as a show of solidarity. 

And then there’s the Michael Jackson jacket…  there was this game of tag that we were all involved in.  I never caught anyone.  I was always the slow kid!  Terrence was quite the opposite…he was the fastest in our class.  One day- I caught him, but in my ‘tag’, i ripped his brand new Michael Jackson Thriller Jacket.   I had to give him $5 so his grandma would sew it for him. 

Terrence, if you’re out there, I just wanted to say thanks.  You were a gift from God to me. Maybe one day, you’ll google your name wondering if you’ve made a difference in the world….and you’ll find this.  Maybe you didn’t make it to see your 33rd birthday like I did this past year.   If you didn’t, I want your friends and family to know you left a legacy you didn’t even know about…you were a friend to this kid who needed one really bad.  You were the first best friend I ever had.  I look forward to seeing you again one day.  I probably still can’t catch you, but if I do, I promise not to rip your jacket in the process.