by Jim. . . Jim Owens
12/5/04
One day, Jim. . . Jim Owens. . . was transferred into a public middle school. His parents decided it was much more cost effective, considering the public school system where they lived was just as good as the Catholic one he had been going to the next town over. He was very scared. New places and new people did that to him. But he went on, and he made many many friends. Tom and Mike were left in the past, forgotten despite their unparalleled gift of friendship in his youth.
The world shrinks, just a bit, every day.
2002: So, in coming to the university my first time in the fall of senior year of high school, my friends and I decided to check out what "dorm-rooms" looked like. We were shown around ISR, and then we came and visited Newman Hall. On a whim, we decided to fill out applications to both. So the following winter, I was accepted to live here in Newman, even before I was accepted to the University. I ended up getting accepted, and eventually deciding I would like to live at Newman. There was nothing particular about Newman I wanted; it just seemed like a nice place, so I figured, what the heck, may as well. So, in the spring, I received a letter saying I was living in room 339, and my roommate was one Thomas J. Byrne of Tinley Park, IL. My first thought was to be excited, because Tinley Park is essentially where I am from (really, an unincorporated part right outside of Tinley). Then I thought, hey Byrne is a good Irish Name. Totally cool. But then, when my mom saw it, she was all like "you know? You used to have a friend named Tom Byrne in grade school." And I agreed. And he would live in Tinley Park! Coincidence? I think not. So I called the number, nervous of making a fool out of myself, but not so much as I would have been in grade school, and asked for a Tom. "This is he," he answered. I told him that my name was Jim Owens, and I was going to the University of Illinois, and that I would be living in Newman Hall. I explained that it listed him as my roommate, and inquired as to whether he had a similar letter. He said he hadn't gotten his yet, but was glad to meet me. At which point I said "well, you didn't happen to go to St. George grade school did you?" After a second or so of silence. . . "JIMMY OWENS!!!! What the devil?!?! Where have you been!?" Taken aback by the fact that he remembered me, I confirmed that I we were indeed, old time friends, and that we'd be living together. We had a brief discussion, and I had to go on other business.
Today: 3 years of friendship, 8 years of separation, and 3 years of college, and Thomas J. Byrne and James M. Owens are roommates. They live in a very awesome room with some of the good friends they've made here at U of I, and share a brotherly bond that shall go on surpassing time and distance. It's a small world, after all.