Smooth

A few weeks ago I said I’d blog some more about the nicknames in my family. So, here goes:

Smooth

Smooth is the next in line under me. We’re about 18 months apart and have always been best friends. We were roommates from the time he was born all the way up until I got married back in 2002–even during college. We were tight. Still are, though the miles and life responsibilities now keep us from seeing each other as much as we’d like. But we share a lot in common. Even our voices sound very similar. In fact, Smooth and I used to play jokes on people all the time who would call our dorm room and not be able to tell us apart. So, if they were calling for Smooth and I answered, I would play along pretending to be Smooth the entire time–many times, never fessing up to the fact that they had been talking to me and not Smooth. I would hang up and then proceed to fill Smooth in on what he had just said to his friend, or girlfriend for that matter. I couldn’t fool Kelly (Smooth’s girlfriend and now wife) for very long though. Pretty soon, I would say something totally uncharacteristic of Smooth, like calling her “sugar-pie” or “dumpling cakes” and she’d see right through it. It was fun to try, though.

Yea, Smooth and I were tight. We did everything together. During our teenage years, it was a love for music that kept us close. And even though he never played any instruments, when it came time for Goodfriday to go on the road (my first Christian rock band), Smooth was there at every gig, setting up our ghetto sound system and running the board like a true mixmaster! In fact, I often take credit for introducing Smooth to his now wife, Kelly. Because it was at a Goodfriday show (actually a youth lock-in, to be exact) where the two met and began their dating relationship.

Which brings me now to the reason for the post. Why the name Smooth? As you may have figured out by now, the name Smooth was an indicator as to the nature of the one bearing the name — the nature of the bearer in connection with the opposite sex, to be sure. See, Smooth was, well … smooth with the ladies. There was no mistaking that. And once Robin Hood, Men in Tights hit the radar in our early teens, the line “He’s a smoothy, definitely a smoothy” became our mantra for Smooth. And thus, Smooth evolved. But don’t misunderstand. He wasn’t a womanizer. No. No. He was a total gentleman. Just so freakin’ smooth. He knew how to talk. He knew what to say. He knew how to behave. He knew what they wanted to hear. So, when Kelly walked into the lock-in that night in the middle of Goodfriday’s set and Smooth laid eyes on her, the sound board was immediately vacated. Our gig was finished. In mid-strum and in mid-voice, I was praying that nothing else would need to be tweaked or changed, because we weren’t getting our sound man back to the board for anything in the world. It was over. And, incidentally, that was the last gig we ever played! No, just kidding. We had a few more. And consequently, we had a few more Goodfriday groupies to add to the number thanks to Smooth and his new love interest! That was a plus! Thanks Kelly, for bringing all your friends.

I probably will hate myself for this, but, if you want a good laugh, check this out.