The Education of David McCoy by Jose Falcon

The beard – Winter 2012

For everyone who thought they grew a beard for no-shave November, I’d like you to take a look at this guy and marvel at the grandeur of his facial hair.

I present Jose Falcon, someone who has educated me in more ways that I can ever realize.  Jose is one of my closest friends.  We’ve known each other since Little League Baseball, and when we get together, it’s like we never parted – one of those kinds of friendships.

Honestly, I cannot even remember what “it” was that we really bonded over.  It might have been the stop-motion Lego reenactment of “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe we had to do for 8th grade English; it might have been our love of Super Smash Brothers on the Nintendo 64; it may have been our mutual love for math class; who knows really – too many memories to pick one where we really bonded.

Actually, maybe it was one of the G.I. Joe Public Service announcement remakes, such as the one about heights. Or maybe the one about electrical wire safety (If you don’t know, in the original G.I. Joe cartoons, they had public service announcements, such as fire safety or not drinking alcohol, at the end of every episode.  Basically someone on YouTube made these goofy parodies of them;  pretty awesome).  Perhaps us finding these hilarious says more than the videos themselves.

Jose and his wonderful family, a family that so generously took me in and made me a part of it.

It is strange thinking about college, however.  Jose went to Davidson for a year then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, the school I was at.  For some reason, even with him back in Texas and really just down the street, we lost touch.  I can’t tell you what or why, but we just lost each other and it was a tough loss.  But much like a lot of relationships, a tragic event brought us back together, and we have been brothers ever since.

A few lessons Jose has taught me:

Jose being a pirate.

• Socratic dialogue is still incredibly useful
• Always be a learner
• Brothers don’t have to share blood
• Anything I know about technology
• How to still be a kid
• Cobra Kai
• Embrace differences
• Follow your heart
• MC Chris‘ Bounty Hunter songs are awesome, especially IG-88’s Chevy

The list could go on and on, but I’ll stop there – it’s a pretty solid list of life lessons.

Jose and I in Austin, 2009

I honestly cannot pick one story from among the many that would truly exemplify our friendship.  Perhaps a simple one is when we were in Austin one day hanging out at his apartment and it began raining while it was completely sunny.  Instead of pondering inside, we went outside, sat in the grass, and chatted for about 20 minutes.  We just felt like being outside and talking there instead of looking into the rain from inside.  Maybe that’s how we always are – just two guys trying to be in the mix.

That’s Jose for you.  He’s the guy I can call for scientific opinions and the guy I can call to talk about the Ultimate Fighting Championship with.  He’s my friend, my brother, and someone who will always teach me new things throughout life.  Get to know him soon; he’ll be off on another adventure before you know it.  Cobra Kai, brother.

~ by David E. McCoy on November 28, 2012.