Happy Birthday Tromboneforhire

Thanks to the internet, we have this new phenomenon of having friends we’ve never met in person.  That’s what some people would have us believe.  But really, people have had friends they never met in person for ages.  They used to be called pen pals.  There are even plenty of stories of pen pals having known each other only through written words and pictures deciding to get married, such is the bond people can form without meeting in person.

Today, I’d like to celebrate one of my special never-met-in-person friends.  Today is Marques’s birthday.

Marques was one of my first friends on Twitter back in the day.  Goodness, we’ve been livening each other’s days now for 6 or 7 years.  I think I started following him because of the trombone part of his Twitter handle and because he was a Zune MVP.  I play trombone.  I had a Zune.  Nobody else knew what a Zune was.  Nobody even knew what an mp3 player was.  I’d have to describe it as a Window’s ipod.  Not only did Marques know what it was, he could help me troubleshoot it and learn new things about it.

Zune is long gone now, but our friendship is not.  We always have plenty to talk about.  Our conversations are often silly and light-hearted, but they’re important, too.  When I was going through some really difficult points, Marques was always there.  When I’d worn out all my in-person-friend’s ears, his eyes were ready.  Real friends aren’t the ones that party with you when you happen to be in the same place; real friends are the ones that are there for you in their best capacity when you need them most.  I’m very lucky to have such a good friend.

There’s a lot of us who are lucky.  There’s a group of us that’s formed around Marques on Twitter.  He sort of brought us all together, people who followed him for different aspects of his life.  It’s like a little virtual lunch table.  We can tell from his Tweet’s that Marques’s family is vey lucky to have him, too.  And his hoards of in-person friends.  And Hamachi.

So here’s a toast to a great man, a man with the most encompassing music taste, a man who builds networks and builds people up, a man with a big heart and an even bigger amount of hugs.  Happy Birthday, Marques!