“Let’s meet up,” part 3

I met JJ through Allen last September, and like Allen he was friendly and, more importantly, a really good volleyball player. They had met in college, and Allen connected us since JJ had recently started working at the fruit. I got to know JJ as he would come to the volleyball games I organized at the fruit, and sometimes we’d all go out for food and drinks afterwards. It was on one such occasion last November that I found out it was his birthday. Since then we’ve gone out to lunch at work and even played on an indoor team together.

Below are a few of the things I appreciate about JJ as I’ve gotten to know him over the past year:

• He has excellent taste; that is, he’s always really enjoyed whatever restaurant I’ve picked when we’ve gone to eat.
• He’s a natural leader; whenever we play volleyball he takes the lead on splitting up teams, which is awesome because it’s one of my (and everybody else’s) least favorite things to do.
• He’s good about initiating and following up on the whole “let’s meet up” thing. The first time I ran into him at work he said, “Hey let’s go out to lunch sometime.” I was honestly surprised since it doesn’t happen all that often (I’m usually the one initiating with other people to have lunch), but was more than happy to schedule something since I always enjoy getting to know people outside the volleyball context.

This week, I happened to organize a volleyball game on his birthday, so made sure to invite him and see if he was up for having dinner afterwards, just like last year. He was, so a group of us went out to a nearby restaurant after a super fun time playing volleyball.

At dinner I asked JJ, “So do you have any birthday traditions?”

JJ laughed and said, “Nah, I don’t really care about my birthday…I mean, I spent my last birthday with you.”

We all had a good laugh, and he apologized for how it came across, but I honestly didn’t mind. I mean, yeah I organized volleyball with some awesome people, got photos to commemorate the occasion, made sure people came out to dinner, and even got the waiter to comp a free birthday pizookie, but I gladly did all those things because I think of him as my friend and didn’t expect anything in return (well, other than RSVPing and showing up).

In part 2 of “Let’s meet up” I wrote that sometimes friends are for a season, sometimes they’re for life, and sometimes they change categories. Yes, JJ is a friend for this season, but I try to treat this category of friends as if they could be friends for life, because who knows what the future holds.

And hey, if I can be a part of JJ’s new birthday tradition, I’ll take it.