cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny, & Maxine Shirts
"A couple of Thoughtlets back I mentioned Quentin Reed had looked me up and made contact (0318.html). This was the week he visited from New York City.
I remember watching a TV show years ago with Marti, I think it was Matlock with Andy Griffin, where it was about a hippie who was the hero's friend. What I remember is Marti and I looking at each other and saying simultaneously `Quentin Reed.' And then we wondered what had happened to Quentin, and that was as far as it went.
I still don't know why Quentin and I hit it off. And whatever the reason, the summer of 1970 Quentin and I had a lot of good times together. I'm sure it revolved around us both playing the guitar. And certainly it included some deeply moving spiritual experiences. I was preparing for my mission, and we practiced on everyone. We went to baptisms, firesides, campouts, service projects, and we sang together at many of these. It was a good summer. And it continued the summer of 1973 after my mission. It was different, and yet it was the same. Quentin and I actually shared a two room apartment for several weeks. There were issues with rent payment and damage deposits. And during this visit, Quentin pulled me aside and offered to pay back the money. I told him no, and that if I was worried about it, his desire to make things whole was sufficient. He still has no money, no job, and no prospects of either. He is basically living off of an insurance payment for some kind of accident. He has diabetes and has to watch what he eats.
For some time he was not active in the church. He reactivated himself and became a Branch President. He is on the High Council of his Stake. I've never been on a High Council, so who am I to say anything about his finances, work, health, or anything else. I'm trying to say everyone has an important role to play. One of Quentin's key roles in 1970 and 1973 was to be my friend. And I am thankful for the memories. I sing the songs we wrote together to myself or to scouts on a fairly regular basis.
I spent most of this week working on the Phoenix 2-D seismic interpretation. On Monday there were several e-mails with Quentin Reed, confirming which flight he would be on, how we would meet, what we were going to do during his visit, etc. I looked forward to his visit with some trepidation. I'm not sure why, other than 30 years is a long time, and that is how long it had been since we spent any time together.
There were e-mails to Sam LeRoy, Bob Ehrlich, and Bjorn Wygrala concerning the India project. I also received an interesting E-mail from Huw James, who has competed with me in building interactive interpretation tools for 25 years now. We are good friends. For those of you interested in Wales, I have included the references he sent for your review. This also acts as a place for me to go to, when I have a few hours to spend looking up the references he sent me. His e-mail started with:
and continued with this list:
Tuesday was more interpretation work, and then Rachel dropped Andrea off at II&T's office and we drove up to Intercontinental to pick up Quentin Reed. His plane was about 45 minutes late. While I was waiting Blaine and Judith Taylor walked down the steps. We had a good catch-up conversation about what has happened since we had our meeting with Dr. Bennion at the AAPG. It was good to see Judith again. She seems pretty happy.
When Quentin came in he was wearing a purple T-shirt. I had him change into his suit so we could go to the Houston Temple on the way home. He proceeded to leave his purple shirt in the restroom, and had to go buy another one one of the days he was with us. It was the first time Quentin and I had been in the same endowment session. It was neat to see my friend in the temple and to be there with my wife. We stopped and ate Chinese food on the way home. When we got to the house, I left Quentin to unpack while I went over to Dick Coons to pick up a check. When I got back, Quentin and I ended up trading off on playing the guitar and talking until about midnight. It was a nice evening. He sure plays the songs we wrote together differently than I do. Who says there isn't evolution?
Wednesday I was up early and off to the office. Quentin slept in, and Quentin, Rachel, and Andrea brought a sandwich down to eat with me at lunch. I got home from working on the India data in time for some really good spaghetti. We played guitars again. This time Rob came over. He was funny. When he was introduced to Quentin, he said `I know you! You wrote Froggie Learns The Gospel. I grew up listening to your words.' Rob played `The One Chord Song,' and the three of us took turns after that. Rob played several of the songs he has written. About 11:00 he had to leave to study for a Spanish class, and Quentin and I ended up in the living room watching `Single's Ward' with Andrea. Quentin has never married, and the movie did not seem as funny as I watched it with him. Maybe it was because Matt was at Youth Conference, and Matt's laughter during this movie is quite contagious. It was a fun evening, and I was tired by 1:00.
There was a note that came on Wednesday thanking Andrea for going to Tiffany Feil's baby shower. It is hard for me to believe that little Matt Feil, the hippie who never went on a mission, has come back to the church, married in the temple to Dan and Linda Jones' daughter Tiffany, and that they are going to have a baby. Matt was the First Assistant to the Bishop when I was the Young Men's President back when he was a Priest and we made those early movies. My how time flys.
Thursday I was off to II&T before Quentin was up. Andrea took Quentin to Beaumont, Texas for his High School Class Reunion. Then she drove back to the Airport to pick up Audrey, who was flying in for our trip to London. There were bad storms, and Audrey's plane circled for a long time before it was allowed to land. Andrea did not have her cell phone on.
Gary Jones called to tell me there had been an accident at the swimming tube at Youth Conference, and was seeking permission to get Matt's head put back together. He had dove head first into a water tube, hit the top of the tube, and it ended up putting 5 staples in a smile on the top of his head. I wasn't able to get hold of Andrea until about 2 hours after I learned about the accident. She handled it OK. I worked until midnight.
Friday I worked most of the day. However, I took a couple of hours off to go see `Finding Nemo' with Audrey, Rachel, Matt, and Andrea. What wonderful animation, sea water reflections, and movement through the ocean. I was so much overwhelmed by the computer graphics, I'm not sure I paid much attention to the movie. I ended up working all night, getting the displays put together for Ajay Kalsi at Phoenix. I was really impressed with what I was able to put together in such a short time (you can look at it at http://www.walden3d.com/phoenix). Little did I know what would happen as a result of this work (0325.html). I was working on the displays until 11:15, and we were trying to leave for the airport by noon. I had to shave, shower, and pack for a week in London after I quit working. Oh well! I did get a very brief report written and sent off to Ajay before getting ready for my first real vacation in many years.
There was an e-mail note that came in from Elder James Snideman telling us how to go about meeting with him at Luton. It was my omen that this was going to be a very good vacation trip. And it was. It was comparable to becoming reacquainted with a long lost friend, like Quentin Reed."