Coupla Best Friends Fell In Love and Went to Sit by the Water

Joe Hines is one of those people who was ridiculously good at everything he did - music, drawing, film, writing, impressions, comic timing - and a guy who could fix seemingly anything. People included.

Joe was also that trusted friend I could call at any time of day or night (“I was never your ‘friend,’ I just wanna reinforce that.” - Joe) and no matter what he was doing - work, band practice, a girl - if humanly possible, he would always answer. The phone! Even if it meant charging in the hallway cuz the electricity was shut off in his apartment, taking an unscheduled break at work, or ditching some other poor girl, he was right there for me. Who, at the slightest intimation I was feeling lonely or down, would eagerly drop anything he was doing to come over with his guitar and sit and play songs, take me out to Little Tijuana, anything to be the one to make me feel better. Who, even if I didn’t want company (much to his chagrin), would endure listening to my predictably pitiful and repetitive stories, ad nauseam, well past my other friends’ breaking points. Who, if I fell asleep on the phone, would still be on the other end of the line when I woke up. And who would always make up a song and a grim story about something terrible to cheer me up! Joe could make me laugh no matter how sad and mopey with the “wobbly wollows [sic]” I was.

I might have noticed these devotions made him a little different from other “friends.”

When Joe survived a near-fatal car accident, it seemed like the universe giving me a pretty blatant, if brutal, wake-up call. I was forced to confront something I’d practiced for many years denying, that I was probably in love with him, too. I trusted him beyond anyone. He made me laugh harder than anyone. And he was my favorite person in the whole, wide world.

“That’s what love IS, dumbass!” I said to myself. So I woke up.

As soon as he regained consciousness and visitors were allowed, I went to see him at Regions hospital. As nervous as I was, I had no doubt what was about to happen. This was a certainty and excitement I can’t describe. As we lay together in his hospital bed, shortly after we kissed for the very first time, I blurted out “I’ve been telling everyone if you pull through this I’m gonna marry you, so I’m gonna marry you!” And, as if on cue, “Ok, Peach Pie, when?” came Joe’s calm, but assured reply.

And that was that.

He’d just been waiting for me the whole time.

He was home to my whole heart. ❤️ The word “was” will never suit Joe. It’s the wrong damn tense.

So I’m making this movie because I have to. It can’t ever make it okay, but it makes something real and present tense from it. And there’ll be plenty in it for everyone, with more sordid details to come!

But for now, the real story is the love.

Joe and me, at our favorite spot on the causeway in Hudson, WI. We loved just being by the water together.