This month the fellows went to Washington DC, Nicaragua, and Wilmington if you’re a boy. A lot happened in November, a lot of really good things. I have frequently referred to November of 2024 as one of the best months of my life (and I genuinely believe that). Though I have so many things to potentially write about, I’m going to write this blog post about November 27th, which many of you know as ~Wednesday~. November 27th is a fitting day for me to write about because it’s exactly one month away from October 27th, which is when I was still in Texas from my last blog post. Since it’s exactly a month away, it means that I can include my Texas trip in one of the best months of my life: November 2024 (I don’t make the rules). Any who…
I woke up at 7:00 AM on November 27th. I went back to sleep and woke up again at 9:00 AM, and this time I woke up feeling dangerous (not actually, I just wanted to throw a Baker Mayfield quote in this blog post). I started my day by heading over to Beow’s Books and Brews with Evy, Elijah, Josh, Sam Crutchfield, and Charles. Out of the six of us, three work at RDG and three don’t. I’ll let you decide which of the six are RDG employees. I sat down at the table beside Charles. I had never met Charles before, so when I sat down, Sam Crutchfield kindly introduced us to each other by saying “Charles this is Bailey, Bailey this is Charles.” My grandpa’s name is Charles Bailey, so my brain immediately crunched the numbers: Charles + Me = My Grandpa. After I ran the calculations and came up with a pretty convincing solution, I turned to Charles and said “hey, my grandpa’s name is Charles Bailey.” My new friend Charles tried his hardest to make me feel like that was a normal thing to say to him at that given moment. And Charles, if you’re reading this, thank you for that (also, if you are for some reason reading this, hey Charles).
After roughly two hours of pretending to be an RDG employee, I left Beow’s to say goodbye to the Young’s before they left for Thanksgiving. With a handful of brief goodbyes and a quick hug from Mary (thank GOODNESS), I went to my friend Tristan’s house. He was sitting in a rocking chair on the porch as I pulled into his driveway. We sat there and talked for two and a half hours. We talked about a lot, but not too much. Never too much. After our stint on the porch, we made our way inside to hangout with his family. We were accompanied by his dad, his mom, and his sister. Tristan’s dad’s name is Bill. I get breakfast with Bill every other week, and we just chat. It was fun to hangout with Tristan and Bill at the same time. It was one of the first times I had been at a college friend’s house. A couple days after Thanksgiving, Tristan texted me saying that it was also the first time one of his college friends had been to his house. I was really glad he texted me that, because in my head, that was his way of saying that it meant as much to him as it did to me. And it meant a lot to me. I wished them a happy Thanksgiving and left to pick up Skip for supper (it’s supper, not dinner).
Skip and I went to Masala House. I would love to say that Indian food is good, but I have only had Indian food two times, and each time I ordered chicken tikka masala. Because of this, I feel unqualified to say that Indian food is good. Chicken tikka masala is good though. Skip and I had quite an interesting time at Masala house. We were served by four different waiters, each of them having their own awkward–yet endearing–idiosyncrasies. A different time I got supper with Skip, he ordered a coke. I had told him that I wanted a coke, and he responded to me by saying “just get one, you’ve earned it.” So I did. I have since adopted the idea of earning a coke every time I want a coke, so I also got a coke at Masala House (I don’t think the “earned coke” philosophy is always the best application, but at least I’m consistent). My Masala House coke was served in a can, accompanied by a Carolina Panthers glass and a bendy straw. Solemnly sipping my bendy straw coke, Skip and I conversed about many different things. Occasionally, one of the four waiters would stop by and ask if we were still eating. The funny thing was, instead of saying “are you still eating?” they would say “continue?” as if we had just reached a checkpoint in the fine dining video game. It eventually got to the point that we could no longer continue (I guess we beat the game), and we asked for the check. As we were paying for our food, we noticed a middle-aged couple angrily addressing Masala House’s night shift host. One of our four waiters (I hate that we didn’t get any of their names) was explaining to us that the couple was mad at them for some reason. I thought it was funny that he was telling two completely unrelated customers this, but as I was thinking, Skip said to our waiter “it’s okay, we would never be mad at you.”
Honestly, I just wanted to write this blog about my friend Skip, so I’m sorry for wasting your time up to this point. One of my favorite things about Skip is his ability to reassure others and show them love in ordinary circumstances. This is not the first time I’ve witnessed Skip address someone in this way. Every time I’ve noticed it, I believe what he says. I genuinely believe that he wouldn’t get mad at any waiter, but that’s not the point. Skip and I probably won’t see any of the members from our waiter quartet ever again, at least not for some time. The truth is, it doesn’t matter whether or not Skip would get mad at him, because he probably won’t have the chance even if he wanted to. But in that very moment, Skip decided to–in the simplest yet most powerful terms–care for our waiter in a loving way. I hope that’s not the first time our waiter’s been reassured that someone won’t be mad at him, but the harsh reality is that it maybe was the first time he’s been told that, and it makes me think of the other people Skip has loved in that way. It’s one of the many things I admire about my friend Skip.
We left Masala House and drove back to Skip’s house, laughing about stories that I’m not gonna type. I actually already typed this blog post once but forgot to save it. Whoops. After dropping off Skip, I drove to my childhood home in Davie County while listening to Kendrick Lamar and Christmas music. I don’t know how I made the jump from Kendrick Lamar rapping about the West Coast to Michael Bublé telling his girlfriend that it’s too cold outside, but I did. And with that, my day ended. November 27th, 2024.
Since it’s Christmas time, my song recommendation is Penny and Sparrow’s cover of “Away in a Manger”. There’s this wicked whistling harmony portion at the end of the song that really gets me goin’. My friend Henry refers to Penny and Sparrow as “coin and bird” and that always makes me chuckle.
If you run into Eric Bolash, for the love of God ask him about Slab Tuesday.
Love, Bailey
