I bet you read the title and immediately thought of Top Gun didn’t you? Not even close. I just can’t bring myself to use that analogy. In my mind I can hear a great friend chirping at me, “you’re such a basic bro.” I thought about this episode over the past week several times that the idea of writing what I’ve learned about myself this past year quickly morphed into an episode of the “Rooflution” about my friends (in case you were wondering how to say it, now you know, Rooflution). Because I miss my friends. Regardless of what we agree we’ve learned from a pandemic, we all can likely agree that we’ve missed our friends. I certainly have. It’s funny because after saying that I now hear another voice In the back of my mind chiming in, “I’ve hung out with my friends this entire time, nobody is going to stop me, not even a virus.” Now, I’m the one chirping in…you’re such a basic bro!”
Yes, I miss my friends. I love my wife and kids to death but come one! One particular friend of mine and I both turned 40 this year and have had this epic fishing trip to Alaska mapped out in our minds for a decade and this was the year. Until this wasn’t the year because of you know who, 'Rona' showed up. Now, we are settling for a very close second in a fishing trip to Northern Minnesota. In case you didn’t realize it yet I am a self-proclaimed king of sidebars. Probably why I write this column.
This friend of mine though, the one I’m going fishing with was (and probably still is) the world’s greatest wingman. So much of a great wingman that to this day he’s still single and here I am married for 15 years with two kids.
You see, this all worked with me tossing a metaphorical softball in the air to the person or people we were engaging with. Also, please don’t take this topic to the gutter. It could be something as simple as the type of swimming pool we were near to something more difficult like nuclear physics (side note, he’s a nuclear engineer). The point is, he could just start a conversation about anything with anyone because he’s always just been so genuinely curious. Think of a five year old asking why? Now, picture the best teacher in the world doing their best to explain something to someone because they want them to understand. You may have words to describe this type of person. Could be nice, genuine, caring, thoughtful, etc., etc. I have a word, actually it’s a phrase and it’s “the ultimate wingman.” Need to negotiate the price of the tickets you’re scalping, bring in the Wingman. Want to help convince your wife to let you go on a week-long fishing trip? Send in the wingman. Need help convincing your kids that you’re cool? Cue the wingman!
The point is, the Wingman does all the dirty work. They are the ones who make it easy for others to enjoy the simplicities of life. They deserve all the credit and yet take none of the glory. When I start thinking under those terms I start to really appreciate all the simple things. Oftentimes things are simple because someone else made them simpler. I get it, not always but when I stop about it, it’s easy to find examples everywhere. When I think about Roofle and how easy it is to use. I know the amount of hard work that went into it to make it that way. I think of each of Roofle’s steps the way I think of a great friend and a wingman. Right there to do the hard work, so I can get a new roof immediately, without having to talk to anyone. Sort of what I did when my wingman was around.
There are so many ideas that we have about Roofle. A lot of them are great, some of them probably not so great. Like changing our slogan to "The Roofing Wingman.” That’s not really a good idea, I guess we'll just have to stick to “Roofing Made Simple.”
So, here’s to old friendships, to new friendships, to seeing all of our friends again soon, and to enjoying the simple things in life with them. Not to mention to my friend Luther. Happy 40th Dude, welcome to the club!
