The Beginning

Sometime last January, Trout had written a post on an old and now defunct blog about the day we first met. A month later, while sorting through boxes in my new apartment, I came across an old training schedule that included that date, and before chucking the calendar out, I made a little mental note of that particular day. As I unlocked my apartment door after work tonight, it dawned on me that today was more than just payday.

Exactly two years ago, Trout and I first met. He was the first person I saw and talked to when I arrived in the 7200 for my last year of school. He was working the front desk of the hall I would be working and living in, and he gave me the information I needed to get into my room. The conversation was brief and I ended up chatting with our boss (whose office was behind the desk where Trout was working) longer than I actually talked to Trout.

The whole getting-my-room-info-so-I-can-get-all-of-my-crap-out-of-my-car-and-into-my-room procedure was all very routine to me. I had done the exact same thing the two previous years and I couldn’t even tell you who I talked with at the desk either of those times. But for whatever reason (was my subconscious trying to clue me into something?), I can remember minute details about that conversation including Trout’s mannerisms and speech inflections. If I think hard enough, I could probably even tell you what he was wearing (that’s a nifty memory trick that seems to run in my family).

At the time, I saw nothing remarkable about that encounter. I would have never guessed something so “ordinary” would hold so much meaning to me and still be a topic of conversation (or blog post) two years later.

Crazy.