Mike Saves the...flip-flop?

I have had the privilege of knowing Mike for the past 7 years. Our friendship began when I started dating my Husband. I can't remember, exactly, how Mike and I met--which is fitting, because Mike was just a person it seemed like you knew your whole life. I never had the pleasure of being coached by him (I probably wouldn't have made the team), but I can definitely say he was my family.

I, too, have shared many of the same memories as the rest of you; and have some memories of my own. Mike has cleaned my plate. I have seen the orange shorts (and was probably one of a million people to request that they be retired). I have been told 'Peace' at the end of a phone conversation. I have been called, simply, 'Momma' (even before I was one), and gotten a 'thanks lady.' at the end of every email conversation. He loved (and constantly requested) my potato salad and only loved it more when I told him there was butter in it. He, only recently, threw away a 6 pack of non-alcoholic beer he kept around his house 'just in case' a party erupted there while I was pregnant. I have pondered his quick exit at a party, without saying goodbye, only to realize he thought of you as family and, therefore, didn't need the formality of goodbyes.

My favorite memory of Mike occurred a couple of years ago while we were on a float trip. The campsite where we stayed was one of those wild, party kinds. The kind of campsite where you'd take a couple of shots of Yeager from your neighboring camper friends on the way back from the bathroom. Anyway, the group of us were sitting around the campfire late at night, and after a while, I became totally fixated on what sounded like a huge party going on across the river. Eventually, I rounded up most of the girls and we set out in search of this party. A little ways down the road, Mike came chasing after us--he wanted to see the party, too (or perhaps he just lost the rock paper scissors match amongst the guys for who would accompany 4 drunk girls on a wild goose chase across the river). Oh, and he remembered to bring the flashlight.
We were searching for this 'party', purely, by sound. If it sounded like it was happening across a river, then across a river we went. 4 drunk girls and Mike...and he made certain that each one of us made it across, safely. On the other side of the river, we encountered a tall embankment. At that point, I thought that finding the party would be a total lost cause. I suggested we turn around (after all, we were drunk, in wet flip flops, searching for some 'party', and only one of us had a flashlight). Mike wouldn't have defeat. He wouldn't hear of it. We were going to find that party. So, he hoisted each one of us up over the embankment so we could keep going in our mission.
We eventually found the 'party', and to our great disappointment, it was simply a guy with some loud speakers in his car and some ducks in a pond nearby.
So, we headed back to the campsite. Down the hill, over the embankment and across the river.
I was crossing the river with one of the girls (at a place much deeper than we remembered crossing, earlier), when she lost her flip flop in the river. It went sailing down the stream, and we chased it for a while. My friend stood there screaming 'My flip flop! My flip flop!' And we watched it sail away. The river was too deep, and it was too dark to continue chasing it any longer. At this point, we started discussing how she would get back to camp with only one shoe--and, moreover, what she would do for the rest of the trip with only one shoe.
Out of nowhere, Mike appears and starts chasing the flip flop down the stream. He ran and ran and eventually dove in. He caught that stupid flip-flop and emerged triumphantly from the river as we all cheered. He saved the flip flop from the big bad river. He even managed to retain his chew during the whole ordeal.

He had the biggest Cheshire grin on his face after that. We all told him what a hero he was, and he loved it. The thing is, we really were serious about the hero part.

I think he was a hero to a lot of us because he made each of us feel so special. I'll miss his fire and passion and how he took each and every experience to the limit. We wanted to give up so many times on our journey to the party, we wanted to give up on the flip flop, but he wouldn't let us. I have never seen anyone engage themselves in the lives of other people as Mike did. He made it his mission to make each person he encountered a friend, and to build that friendship to its greatest potential.

Thanks, Mike, for you. And thanks for saving the flip flop.
Becky Goudy