The Supporting Cast of Characters

When I was in college, I met a man who made documentaries about current events as they were unfolding. The one thing I remember from our conversation was that the most difficult task in making his documentaries successful was building his cast of characters.

So as this blog tracking my kids coming of age moves into its eighth month and Philip’s Middle School career rapidly gives way to High School, I believe it is worth taking a look at who is emerging as Philip’s proverbial supporting cast for the coming years. Some of them you have met already. Others are new to you, but for Philip they have been quite significant for some time. Here are the guys who are closest to Philip.

Craig. Craig is probably Philip’s closest friend. He’s also Philip’s most difficult friend. And as mentioned in a previous post, I’m not certain Philip’s friendship with Craig will survive the transition to high school. The two have known each other since they were on the same soccer team I coached in the fourth grade. They’ve played on multiple soccer and lacrosse teams together, including the lacrosse team this past season. Craig was at our house for the two middle school socials we hosted and proved himself to be the most aggressive deliverer of one-liners. Craig is a good kid at his core. But on the surface he is very reactionary and particularly insecure, which is not a promising combination for Craig’s social life in high school. Craig tells me he has ambitions to participate in student government. I wish him success.

Raul. Raul was Philip’s first friend in Hermes. Before moving from San Geraldo to Hermes, we signed up Philip for Little League Baseball in Hermes. We figured he’d meet a bunch of kids on the team—at least one of whom was bound to be in his first grade class on Philip’s first day at a new school more than half way through the year. When Philip started at his new elementary school in Hermes, he found Raul there waving him into the same class. The two shared a great season of Little League as well as the two seasons of soccer that followed with me as their coach. While Philip has moved on from baseball to lacrosse, baseball remains Raul’s passion.

Ross. Ross is Philp’s “mellow” friend. He’s the friend we called when Philip returned from the emergency room full of so much muscle-relaxer he couldn’t walk. The friendship between Ross and Philip goes back to elementary school. For middle school, Ross transferred to Trinity School, the local K-8 private school rather than following his classmates to Hermes Middle School. The two will rejoin one another at Hermes High School next year.

Joshua. Joshua (lately called “The J-Man” and “Shoe”) has been with Philip at Oak Hills Charter School for the past two years but they have been friends since the first grade. Joshua is unique in that he is not heading to Hermes High School. Instead, Joshua will continue on to the high school program at Oak Hills Charter School. Rather than playing team sports, Joshua enjoys martial arts and has earned himself a black belt. Joshua’s bravado rivals that of Craig, and Joshua would be a close runner-up to Craig in terms of delivering one-liners at the middle school socials we have hosted.

Philip has plenty of other guy friends, of course. But it would be exhaustive to cover them all. And then there are the girls. But the girls deserve to be the subject of their own post.