I've known Brian since I was 15. I had recently moved back to Arlington and was a sophomore in high school. One night our house was prank called ... the prankster's phone number was exactly the same except the last two digits were transposed. Turns out that we had a mutual friend who I hadn't seen since elementary school and thus started our friendship. I was always over at his house, we were always driving around in that huge green jeep with subwoofers in the back. And then tradegy struck and it all fell away. Brian went away to prison when he was only 16 years old. It inspired me to research policies and laws regarding capital punishment and made me start asking some serious questions about loyalty, friendship, faith, and ethics. Brian and I had written each other a handful of times in the first 15 years of his sentence; something changed last holiday season. A mutual friend, Derek, told me that his father had been talking to Brian on a regular basis. I thought we should write him a letter and maybe pass it along with our addresses to Brian. We did. Since then there hasn't been a month that's gone by that I haven't heard from him and that he hasn't heard from me.
Last time I wrote him my 30x30 list with the status of some of the items. He sent me back six handwritten pages and illustrated instructions on arc welding and acetelyne welding. This counts as long-distance learning I say!
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