Actually, our first two interactions we both remember go like this: I asked him to fix a printer, and then insisted he had the IP address wrong because he did it off the top of his head (he was right.) One day at the end of the day, probably a Friday, a bunch of teachers were standing around in the hallway that leads to the exit door. We were goofing around and shooting the breeze, and had a habit of clapping out and cheering on the last one or two straggling students wandering out. Well, Joe came down this hall, one of his first days, and to break the awkward of him silently walking through us, I started a IT GUY chant that involved a lot of clapping and WOOOOing. I thought it was nice, Joe thought I was making fun of him and went home pissed off. Given that, it’s pretty amazing we made it here at all, ha. If it weren’t for the start of a covid school year, that might have been the end of it. But, as the 2020-2021 school year got underway, we were forced together at an 8 foot folding table under the front door awning to complete all of the usual beginning of the year chores, student registration and Chromebook distribution, en plein air via drive through line. It was the week or two spent sitting at this table running an outdoor version of a school front office together that started our friendship— which continued even after he cut the avocado he brought for lunch in half with a plastic knife straight through the pit while we were sitting out there one day. The real story begins in March of 2021 when I invited Joe over to show me how to make maple syrup. People always wink and say “sure, to ‘make syrup’” but honestly, I had no idea. I really just wanted someone to show me how to do the syrup stuff because it sounded a lot easier than trying to research it and I hate watching videos. In that regard I did have an ulterior motive and it was to take advantage of his helpful good nature to help me with an extra thing at home! Little did I know, though, that he might have come with other interests in mind. By the time we spent one weekend tapping trees, and another boiling down the sap, I was in trouble. I called my sister in a panic and told her ithinkilikeJoe and Idon’tknowwhattodo. Her reply? You go for it dummy. A couple weeks later, we had an official first date where we made pasta from scratch and Joe (tried) to teach me to play ukulele. And that was that.

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