I recorded last night's Utah Jazz game, their biggest win of the season, a 129-99 beat down of the reigning NBA World Champions, the Golden State Warriors. A reporter was interviewing Ricky Rubio, the Utah Jazz starting point guard after the game ended (Rubio had a monster game...). And during that interview I spotted a hero of mine--no, not the former first-round draft pick from Spain. My hero stood in the background.
He's one of the fans.
And he's my friend.
I first met Jeff in January 1985. Six strangers moved to a complex to learn how to communicate in the Danish language, and how to be good and effective missionaries. I can't believe it's been thirty-three years and a few days since we met.
When we lived in Denmark we pretty much did the same thing--we were missionaries. When we returned home, I think we all went to college. We all ended up getting married, having kids, and now our kids are going on missions, getting married, and having kids. The circle of life.
Why is Jeff one of my heroes? He's kind of amazing. Businessman, philanthropist, husband, father, and grandfather. He's run a successful business for almost twenty years, and he and his family have been nothing but fantastic to me and my family, even to the point of helping us out when we needed it. Even through he's obtained much success, he's still that same downed-to-earth guy I met years ago.
Jeff's a huge sports fan as well. He and his wife attend numerous sporting events, hence me spotting him after the Utah Jazz epic win. He's even invited me and my kids to attend games with them and I've had a blast every time.
It's fun spotting Jeff and his family at the games. He's kind of like a celebrity. If you know Jeff, you know he's got a heart as big as his personality, and I'm proud to call him my friend.
And a hero.
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