The Quad - Dave and His College Roomies

My friends will frequently hear me talking about my college roommates. I had some of the greatest roommates ever, and I make a point of keeping in pretty close touch with them. Allow me to introduce you...

James "Sweetbaby" Taylor - This guy and I met at my church in eighth grade and have been virtually inseparable ever since. We both decided that Abilene Christian University was the place we wanted to go to college, so it was only natural that we'd room together for our freshman year. We each had different roommates during our sophomore year, but missed each other so much we got an apartment together (our beloved University Park #1025 or TenTwentyFive, for short) for the last two years of college. Even when I went off to grad school at Vanderbilt, Sweetbaby made a point of coming up to visit about once a week for the first year or so. He's now putting the finishing touches on a Master's degree in Counseling from Alabama A&M University. A little more than a year ago, James got hitched to a Canadian gal named Heather. A few weeks ago, they found out that H has a bun in the oven! The little one - whom I have dubbed "Sweetpea" - is due to arrive in February.

Christopher Sean Beswick - As if you couldn't tell from the picture, Beswick is without exception the most entertainingly ridiculous person I know. He lived two doors down from Sweetbaby and me in our freshman dorm at ACU, and my first impression of him was drawn from his unique style of decor. He had "Gringo Gumby," a six-foot-tall cardboard cut-out of the claymation character, to which he'd added a giant sombrero, a Mexican blanket, criss-crossed bullet belts, and an empty bottle of Johnny Walker taped to Gumby's waving right hand. He'd also drawn on a Pancho Villa mustache and a smoldering cigarette. Beswick also had an unusual way of coping with trash - by duct-taping it to the ceiling instead of tossing it in the trashcan. Chris and I ended up pledging the same social club (Frater Sodalis - BT!!) during our sophomore year, and that's when our friendship really blossomed. He lived with another of our club brothers right next door to me and Mike, who you'll hear about below. We had so much fun getting in trouble together that Chris joined James and I in TenTwentyFive for the last two years of school. After graduation, Chris moved back to his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, to teach high school English and coach soccer. Chris recently coached the Colleyville-Heritage Panthers to their first ever soccer division title, then promptly got married to celebrate. See my previous post, "Adventures Out West", for more about this guy.

Michael Patrick Vein - Mike pledged Frats with Chris and I, which led to his becoming my roommate during our sophomore year. He's a quieter type than the rest of us, but under that exterior is a riotous - if off-beat - sense of humor. Mike couldn't join us in TenTwentyFive during our junior year, but he became part of The Quad for our senior year. Mike was the first of the three of us to get hitched, tying the knot the day after graduation. He and his wife, Kate, now live in Chicago where he works as a human resources manager.

So those are the boys. We still try to get all four of us together at least once a year. For the past couple of years it's been pretty easy, thanks to Sweetbaby and Beswick getting married. We pulled together weekend-long batchelor parties for each of the guys - Memphis for James, New Orleans for Chris - and we all managed to get together for James's wedding as well. Hang around either me or my blog for long enough and you'll be sure to hear tales about our misadventures. But tonight I'm sleepy, so the pictures will just have to talk for themselves.