JimmieJoe

I was sitting at Denny’s recently, trying not to listen to a group at a nearby table gossiping about some of their friends and the trials and tribulations they were going through, when I started thinking about two friends of mine. Each reacted to my coming out differently, and I had thought I knew how things would go when they found out. Boy, was I ever wrong.

Dennis and I met in Mrs. York’s Norcross’* 6th grade class, way back in 1968.  We have been ‘best friends’ ever since, with only a few years of not much contact when Dennis became a born again Christian at about age 18.  Since I had been sure that I was an atheist since about the time we met, I thought this would be the end of our friendship.  While we went several years with only sporadic contact, we eventually became close again.  Over the years, Dennis attended several religious colleges, and graduated from the Fuller Seminary in Pasadena.  My ‘best friend’ was a Southern Baptist minister!  I often tell people that I may be one of the only atheists around with his own minister!

Don and I met in high school.  We became fast friends pretty quickly, and ran around a lot during our school years.

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