Dating : Greg

Greg Mackenzie had it all.

Classic leading man looks, book smarts, street smarts and the rare type of smarts when books and streets intersected. He always had a relaxed nature about him that everyone liked. An endless stream of almost-literally-hot-to-touch girlfriends, landing prime jobs with corner offices, a jaw that announced to the world “take me seriously” as well as “you know this is just my jaw you are looking at”. He’d even won the draw for a prize at the state carnival on two separate occasions. And then, a stunning wife, a great house and a bank account that afforded him the life he always wanted.

From the outside, it appeared that life had dealt Greg a royal flush and that he’d never struggled much to get what he wanted, which was true currently. But it hadn’t always been that way. Life had been hard, there had been more challenges than he could count (that’s what he told people, but the number was 26, a number he absolutely could count to) and Greg had persevered.

Greg often joked that he came from nothing — not literally, of course, because he had a solid understanding of human reproduction. Growing up, his parents didn’t have much money. Many of his memories of his time as a young child were dominated by “how are we going to afford this?” and “the bills are piling up again” and “maybe it would make us happier if we placed the bills in many shorter piles rather than one big one” and “it’s going to be a small Christmas again this year, sweetie”. But, unlike in some homes where stress about money invariably leads to communication issues and, eventually, divorce, Greg’s parents loved each other deeply and battled on. Greg’s dad took an extra job and his mom started a home business, but neither ever put their work above their son, their only child. Without being aware as a kid, Greg learned his hard-work-never-back-down-unless-the-specific-task-involves-either-bending-or-kneeling-down-then-by-all-mean’s-back-down approach towards life from his parents. As an adult Greg would tell others that his parent’s love saved him time and time again, although credit must go to the lifeguard at the beach who saved him once as well.

In elementary school, despite being a nice kid, he had few friends, but this wasn’t for lack of trying. He so badly wanted to be accepted, so Greg went to the birthday parties, he hung out on the playground, he played on sports teams and he even auditioned for his school’s comedic interpretation of Euripides’ tragedy, Hippolytus but just never found “his people”. Many tearful nights at the kitchen table wondering “what am I doing wrong?” and “why don’t they like me?” as well as “where are my socks?” As a result, Greg mostly kept to himself and, to cope, developed a bit of a “I don’t care what others think of me” attitude which came across as a little too aware of just how great he thought he was. Teachers commented that he was “very self assured for a young boy” and seemed to be “waiting for his ship to come in despite not seeming to understand that our town is completely land-locked”.

But, that ship did arrive one day in the form of Stanley Bell, a new kid from out of town. The two were instantly inseparable. Almost overnight, Greg changed. More of a smile on his face, more of a bounce in his step, more of a murmur from others about the precise source of the bounce and the smile. It’s funny what a little acceptance does to a person. His parents, who had been so worried, now saw a rise in marks, a desire to join after-school activities and make plans for summer breaks. Most of all, they saw their son truly blossoming and they couldn’t have been happier.

If someone had said that Greg was on a roll before high school, someone who truly knew him would correct that person and say that he wasn’t truly on a roll until grade 8 and that “on a roll” should be placed in quotations as Greg was never actually on a roll except that one time early in grade 8 when he accidentally stepped on a dinner bun. He entered high school with a bang — a combination of overly oiled doors and tons of youthful enthusiasm. In no time, he started leaving his mark. Greg was on student council, captain of the basketball team, a “I hope he asks me to the dance” guy, and friend to everyone. He often appeared to be in more than one place at a time though, later on, it turns out that was due to excessive mirroring in some parts of the school.

He was a guy who “was going places” and for whom “the sky was the limit”. He also was a huge fan of air quotes and required them from those who insisted on speaking superlatively about him to his face. “Stop, you are making me blush,” Greg would say, all the while loving basking in the positive attention while also making a mental note to see his family doctor about his easily reddened cheeks.

In senior year, he was named “Person Most Likely to…”, and yes, the yearbook committee left it open-ended on purpose and weren’t just big fans of ellises or unfinished phrases, though they were fans of both of those as well (two reasons why yearbook sales were dwindling, with another being the excessive amount of sarcasm). The implication was that Greg Mackenzie was the kid who could do almost anything he put his mind into (as well as his body, as Greg realized that just putting his mind into something didn’t yield much more than some amazing thoughts).

Greg’s teen years were as stellar as one could dream of — the all-star mentions on sports teams, the making of multiple Principal’s Lists, the scholarship offers, the incredible collection of impeccably well-groomed bonsai plants, and girl after girl throwing themselves at him to the point where he had to make some clear signage to advise them that, while he appreciated their interest, they must use more caution. And, through it all, people often whispered just out of ear shot wondering what he saw in Stanley, only to be told “we can hear you, if you want to whisper about us, you need to move further away or just whisper more quietly”. There was no way around it, Stanley was awkward, introspective and couldn’t make a basketball shot if his life depended on it, which fortunately it hadn’t up to this point.

But, despite their representing two arrows moving in very different directions, the two remained as close as the day they met. Greg was Stanley’s biggest fan and vice versa. They promised each other back in elementary school that they would stay friends forever and Greg never wavered from this. He remembered Stanley being there from the beginning. Where other people would have moved on from childhood friends claiming they had grown apart or had drifted, Greg would never do that. He needed Stanley as much as Stanley needed him. They were friends for life.