Friendships are all about putting yourself out there, going that extra step, a little outside your common ground.

Two people in my life have done that at different times.  First off there is Frank, you bloggers know him of the owner of Tech Jaws, I met him when he was still hot and heavy at blogtbt.com - Frank found my blog - as he referenced it.. “a gay looking blog” through entrecard.  He loved the content and my art, but the blog design left a bit to be desired.  How the hell should I know, I thought, I only used a template, and knew nothing of code or php.

I gave Frank my logins and we spoke several times, but I was still slightly hesitant to meet someone from online in person.  It took him over 6 hours to get my blog where it should be and his work on soul-to-soul.com gave it a beautiful scar free face lift.  6 hours of his time on a Saturday, just because he believes in helping others out and being a friend.

A few months later, we hooked up online, asked him what he was up to, and he said..nothin’, as I did.  I said, grab your gal pal and come over for a BBQ.  He was all in.. now my husband, who plays it a little closer to the vest than I do, is the “quiet” one, and likes “quiet”…. anyone that’s ever talked to Frank - knows he is not quiet..

I walked into the batcave, aka, the basement, told my husband, my blog groupie and his girlfriend were on the way over, and btw, he is a mouthy Italian, “play nice”

Thus began a friendship - Buck and Frank hit it off, as did “Veronica” and I, (real name Victoria), but we all kept calling her Veronica, hit it off great!  (the rum must have been responsible for the name descrepancy.

Frank & Victoria decided that they were going to get married and head down to the court house to do so, that made my heart a little sad.  They don’t have family here, and every one deserves a special day.  I told my boyz about it, thats Buck and Jake, Jake the “Ordained Minister from ULC” said he would marry them.  Frank was thrilled, but the plan had one issue, Jake couldn’t do it legally in Illinois, he is not 18 yet.

A hot tub and a few rum & cokes later, “THE QUIET ONE” said, Ordain me, I’ll do it.  Frank and Victoria once again, were all in.  Ordained, legal and calls to the county, confirmed it.

I wondered about this, Buck doesn’t like performing anything in front of anyone, and thats sad, he is a kick ass, killer guitar player.

Saturday, May 16th, 2009, Reverend Wayne M. Kleiner Jr. joined together in marriage, Frank & Victoria

With two friends present, a beautiful day, in West Dundee it was a pleasure to see people come together.  Seeing Frank just joke around, calm and enjoying the fact that “friends” were around to see him marry his gal and gain a wife.

This tells me, what friendship is all about.  Doing something you normally wouldn’t do, sharing a piece of your life, your love and going that extra step.

Buck tells it like it is, and we often talk about friendship, which him and I both have had some really crappy experiences in the past, because we put ourselves out there.. and he looked at me and said…

“I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t like Frank.. and I really like Frank.”

Blessings to Frank  & Victoria

P.S..after they left our house and the festivities..we want to say, our day was as blessed as theirs for knowing them and being part of their special event… FRANK rocks on harmonica..