1. George taught me to sail. Somewhat. We spent many a summer day on Lake Julian lazily cruising along on his boat.
2. After sailing, we would stop by this store and pick up a box of these potato things. They were like big french fries.
3. Many times he tried to teach me to windsurf - unfortuantly that never took. Maybe it had to do with me weighing 89lbs when I was a teen.
4. I saw my first movie without my parents with George. Cannonball Run II.
5. George drove the best - or at least I always felt comfortable when he drove.
6. I had my first bagel at his house
7. I spent the night at his house after senior prom. His parents were in Europe during the prom. What were they thinking?!
8. As much as I loved my childhood dog, I think I loved his dog, Ginger, a bit more. Of course, Ginger went sailing with us and to the beach and everywhere else.
9. I met George in pre-school. That's the year before kindergarten. I wore a shirt that had a number seven on it - something that he always found funny. I guess he thought sevens were funny.
10. His family called him 'Porky', which was funny because as a child, he was thinner than I was. I think they were calling him that ironically.
11. In the early eighties, he spent a few months at a medical center in Alabama getting his heart tinkered with. When he came back, he began to grow like a weed.
12. Some of my favorite memories of winter are from days spent snowed in at his family's house. We'd go sledding on the golf course all day and into the night. His mom made us hot Russian tea.
    There was a wood stove in the living room to warm us up.


13. My brother, his best friend, myself and George would play football in our front yard. It usually went well, until we quit playing and started punching each other. We usually did it as 'brothers punch each other - guests punch each other'.
14. My grandmother was quite fond of George, as was he of her. During our college years, he once called her and asked if he could spend the night at her house because it was a halfway point between wherever he was going.
    Naturally, she was delighted, and he later told me of how great it was to be woken up in the morning with her calling his name in her sweet Georgia accent.
    "Geeeoooorrrge. Wake up Geeeoooorrrge"
15. His parents were born in Holland and that was awfully exciting for a dumb Methodist boy from the south.
16. I attended my first beer party in high school with George. We drank Bud 'tall boys'.
17. George had two older brothers and two older sisters. When they were in college, we'd sometimes raid their tape and album collections to make copies of all the cool 'college' music they had.
18. As much time as we spent together and all the dumb stuff we did, I could never get used to his smelly feet
19. When we were pre-teens, we would spend late nights building model airplanes and cars. Oh, and battleships.
20. In the wintertime, George liked to sleep with the windows open. I would come into his room in the mornings and he would be asleep in his 'mummy' sleeping bag and you would just see a small part of his face sticking out.
21. To this day, one of my most used passwords at work is based on an inside joke we had.
22. I spent a month in a tent with him and our other friend Bobby while backpacking through Europe.

but the image i carry in my mind is of his always smiling face and laughing eyes. i will always remember him as one of the most genuine people i have ever known. he was never judgmental or condescending. he was always so friendly and sincere. i wish more people could be like george.