Kyle in Class

Before I start an ode to my friend Kyle (who I may have neglected), I have to quickly apologize to my minute amount of readers for my absence. Sorry. I'll do better...maybe.

So, my Sheriff Deputy friend has a special knack for stating the obvious. In fact, it was always enjoyable to sit down the row from him in a lecture hall just to hear his retorts to hair-brain, idiotic responses/questions from other students in the room.

It was always better to sit down the row, because if you sat next to him you couldn't pay attention to the professor or would get in trouble for talking because they never suspected the deputy. However, in our World of Islam class there was no getting around it. And one day in class we received a note from somewhere in the room that read something like this:

"We paid good money for this class to learn how to coexist with Muslims. We want to better understand their religion and why they do the things they do. What we didn't pay for was your meaningless banter and loud voice - Shut up or go home" and other mean stuff...etc.

I couldn't help but laugh. I guess they didn't know Kyle at all! Or maybe they didn't think that he paid for the class too. Why did they think we were there? Whatever it was, it was fun to see Kyle's response. I never thought a paper being ripped up and sent to the trash can "air mail" could be so entertaining. In addition, he probably got better grades than they did, even though he "wasn't listening". That is amazing about Kyle, too. I never thought that he read or did homework or anything and he'd come to class and get A's all the time. Amazing.

Kyle is one of a kind. I sat next to him at graduation (by choice-I'm glad that we didn't have to worry about alphabetical order junk) and he spoke of his plans for the future and his family. I was awed by his concern for his family and especially his wife. He sent me a picture of the MoVal Tornado a few days ago and because of his comments about his wife, family and dog, my first question via text was about his family.

So, that's Kyle - our friendly neighborhood deputy - in a very brief history. There are so many more instances which could be recited. I asked our friend Ed to describe him in one word. "That's just not possible," Ed responded.

Here's to you Kyle! Your colorful verbiage and your knack for telling it how it is has made me a more rounded and open-minded person! I'll be forever grateful!