My favorite J.C. moments

I was going to put this in the guestbook, but it’s too damn long so I’m putting it here with a link in the GB to the full story. I needed to do some serious writing about this guy and since I have a few minutes to spare this morning, I am going to take the time to write. After all, this is one way of healing.

I met J.C. sometime in late 1987 when we were both going to Queen Elizabeth junior high school here in Moncton. J.C. lived with his dad in this tiny basement apartment on Dominion st. J.C. had moved from Bathurst and didn’t know too many people here. I found myself walking home from school and seeing this other guy walking the same way. Several days passed and we got to talking and then one day he came over after school. When he went home, mom asked me how I met J.C. I told her that he just followed me home from school. From that point forward, me and J.C. became great friends.

J.C. was one of my first childhood friends that grew into an adult friendship. Many people meet and hang out with a lot of people in high school and college but not a lot of those same friends stay close. Despite having drifted a bit in the last few years, J.C. was still a good friend.

Some of my favorite memories? Wow. I could probably write a book on the memories I have but here’s some of the ones that come to mind today:

• Sitting in my mom’s living room playing Nintendo til all hours of the night on weekends. Me, J.C., and Jason would play games til we practically fell asleep. I remember as a teenager we always tuned Bleu Nuit in on the TV and two of us would play Nintendo while the other one watched and let us know when “the good parts” came on.

• J.C. and I going stag to my junior high prom and him coming with me to Burger King after I saw Denise Lirette (the love of my life at the time) making out with some guy. J.C., always the good friend, came with me to BK and talked to me and helped me get through what would be very hurtful experience for me at the time.

• The countless times we jammed and played in Rounded Edges. The band was never a serious effort but we just wanted to have fun and enjoy hanging out and we all wanted to be part of a band. I remember having our reunion only a few years back and really enjoying having that connection again.

• J.C. coming home from school and being so excited about this tape his friend Jason had lent him. My first exposure to Maclean & Maclean was when Jason lent him “Bitter Reality” and we listened to it in J.C.’s kitchen laughing our asses off.

• Sitting in J.C.’s living room recording stupid stuff on my tape recorder and then listening to it backwards. I remember quite vividly me and J.C. getting into a bit of trouble with Tammy & Valerie for some of the lewd comments on the tape. Singing, swearing, talking about girls. What teenage boys do.

• Going to see Total Recall at Crystal Palace with Jason & Ben with us. One of the few outings that really sticks out in my mind because they wouldn’t let us in to see the movie because it was R rated so we told them we were going to go see Ghost Dad instead and then just snuck into the theatre to see Total Recall anyway.

• J.C. being so excited about finally losing his virginity to Anne-Marie and all excited about being able to share that with his close friends.

• Him showing up at my moms in tears because his dad had gotten real drunk and scared him. Knowing he would be ok, he came over, talked, and then eventually worked it all out with his dad.

• Being scared shitless when me and Shane made him think we had summoned the devil via a ouija board in Bobsroom. We had our other friend Kevin hide behind a wall where there was a hidden closet and at the “give us a sign” moment, Kevin shock the wall and J.C. freaked out. Running upstairs, we had to practically pull him back into the basement to let him know it was a prank.

• Stealing those little plastic letters from those Signway signs all over town.

• Being the first person I got to drive somewhere on the day I got my drivers license.

• Being the only friend that managed to make it to my graduation. He couldn’t stay for the whole thing but he wanted to let me know he was there so when they called my name out, he yelled “YAY MATT!”. It was the only highlight of my grad.

• The four horsemen hanging out at Ben’s cabin where J.C. insisted on annoying Ila

• Listening to his and Eric’s first recorded song in their own band, No Title Necessary.

Those are the ones I can think of today. I know there are hundreds more but those are the ones that either stick out in my mind, or just happen to come to mind today.

J.C., wherever you are now, know that you were indeed a true friend and we all loved you dearly.