Eulogy from Vinnie

Vinnie Hartong (Friend)

The relationship between the five of us exceeded our definition of mere friendship; we were and still are like brothers. What we have is something truly special and unique. Time and distance have never been considered an obstacle in our friendship. Months would go by without seeing each other whether it was during time away in college, after graduating and starting our lives anew, or during our travels to Europe and elsewhere, but when we got together it always seemed like it was just yesterday. To the point where there was no time for casual greetings or pleasantries, the conversation would just continue where we had left off months before.

A great example of this was when Jason, Mark, Andreas and Andy went on a backpacking trip throughout Europe and I joined them in Amsterdam for the last five days. I met them after not having seen them for 2 months. Before I could even say “Hi, great to see you guys,” Jason turns to me and says “OK, we have three questions for you.” One, “how much does a brand new garbage truck cost?” Two, “what is the brown wrapper of a cigar made from?” Three, “what do they do with a dead bull after it has been beaten in a bullfight?” After answering the questions, they explained to me that these were the main unresolved issues of their trip.

As funny as that anecdote is, it exemplifies our friendship perfectly. These guys, my best friends, my brothers, hadn’t seen me in 2 months, but there was no time for greetings or pleasantries, we just picked up from where we last left off. After answering Jason’s 3 questions, I felt as though I had been on that trip with them the whole time, and that is the beauty of our friendship, that it has and always will transcend distance and time.