We celebrated this yesterday because I’m on vacation until Friday; mmm, lunch at Whataburger. I think I ate enough to tide me over until Saturday.
This is a special birthday for him since he would now be Bryant Version 7.0. When I was a kid, I heard some weird factoid about every atom in a person’s body changing every seven years. Oddly, I have had no luck getting this verified nor debunked despite numerous searches via Google. Even the person I knew with a PhD in BioChemistry wasn’t sure. I will need to impose on the friend who specializes in Genetics or maybe a Physicist.
Regardless, Bryant is a good friend. We have our heated differences which are more polite than when there was a third participant; those were called Crossfire Lunches. I think he forgets on how often we agree over the times we don’t, hence why my nickname for him is Reverend Dimmesdale from The Scarlet Letter, a favorite novel of mine (seriously, I dig Hawthorne). He is a person of strong faith (Church of LDS) while I am an Atheist. However, he tends not to let his religious beliefs cloud everything we discuss; unlike the state of Utah, which he calls the residents…Utards due to his upbringing in Idaho (sounds like the rivalry ND had with Minnesota). Much like Catholics, Baptists and Jews, LDSers aren’t as monolithic as the media portrays them to be as a voting block. Bryant keeps me on my toes, I only wish I had the luxury of more time to research as heavily as he gets to. I even tried to get him to halfsies on a sub to the Economist, he lacked the time was his response. Maybe this will change now that his wife has an iPad!
Lastly, Bryant is similar to my friend Christina. An inspiring person for his mastery of a foreign language despite growing up in a place where it would be downright impossible. Think about it. How much need is there for fluency in French around Idaho? Close to none yet he pulled it off by taking everything in high school and college. Spending a couple years in France for his person mission helped greatly but I think all his class work and dedication prepared him. These days, speaking French for him is equivalent to breathing.