We’re doing an annual “Friendship Weekend” this Saturday and Sunday, and I am thrilled to be hosting it with Lindsay Lawler. I don’t know if she’s counting, but we have known each other for over seven years.
I am also not sure if she remembers all the particulars, but we met at MATS where I instantly put her on the spot. I insisted she open our live Saturday broadcast from the floor of the Kentucky Exposition Center with the National Anthem. That morning, she gave me, Clare Marie, and Dave an audience before we ever started talking, and I have been throwing her in the deep end ever since.
Our next encounter of note was the truckstop tour for the National Christmas Tree at The Bridgestone Arena where she and a gang of talented collaborators, a staple wherever Lindsay goes, welcomed the smell of pine and the season with festive holiday rock and country staples. We struck up a longer conversation and, at that point, began what would become a genuine friendship.
When Clare left the weekend show to pursue her dreams in sound design, Lindsay was the first and only person I thought of to fill that second seat. It was an easy call. Lindsay knew the cultural life of trucking, and she brought a perspective different from any other voice on our shows.
Crucially, she’s a talker. A good one. A grand one. Possessing a mind that keeps up with her mouth, Lindsay listens to the world around her, vacuums it all up, and deals it out at a million miles an hour in her own unique way of making sense of the world. When that doesn’t work, she writes a song about it with her terrific mixture of sharp insights and a deep well of compassion.
Sounds like an ace person to have in your corner, doesn’t it? But the two moments that made me realize she was a true friend involved my friendship deal breakers. If you don't possess guts and humor, you’re a friendly acquaintance at best. Lindsay’s got both.
I was the host of a live show where she was a featured performer. Along with doing some comic routines, Dave Nemo was scheduled to appear with Lindsay and her regular collaborators Chris Roberts and Mark Evitts. To say Dave was treated disrespectfully by folks who should have known better would be an understatement. While other lesser talents were feted, Dave was relegated to a corner as an afterthought.
Lindsay responded with her typical courage and character. She saw what was happening and invited me and Dave to join her in her dressing room with her collaborators. In front of our hosts, she insisted on it. As I watched Dave practice the set for the show with Lindsay and friends, I realized she gained nothing from this act of gracious invitation. For me, that is the cornerstone of a great friend.
Her friendship-certifying irreverent humor made a full tilt appearance the first time we broadcast Transition Trucking: Driving for Excellence together. We were in DC at The Chamber of Commerce.
A little backstory is required on this one. That event’s first prize is a Kenworth T680, taxes paid and with all the trimmings. Because of this, very few people know the recipient until it is announced. By nature of the fact that RadioNemo is the first to talk with the winner, our associate producer Tarrah Garis, Lindsay and I have to know who it is, so we can do a competent interview. It requires a massive poker face to look first prize in the eye before the ceremony and not give a hint to the life-changing joy that awaits them.
It was right before we all took our seats, and the room was buzzing with anticipation. Keep in mind, this is also moments before Lindsay has to sing the National Anthem for a hoity toity audience of patriots that expect a certain level of quality. I was chatting up some fancy pants Chamber folks when Lindsay walks over to me. She summons me close, leans in, and with quiet deadpan surety says under her breath, “I let Ashley know she won. Took the edge off. She’s cool with it.”
And walked away. Stopped. Winked. And walked away again. She walked to the stage, grabbed the mic, and proceeded to hit the anthem out of the park. Did I mention she did it to me in mid sip of my coffee? She completely got me. And if you know me, I don't get got.
A person of character and a character. That’s a friend. That's Lindsay. Someone you can count on when the chips are down, and someone with mischievous ideas for a mischievous time when you pull that same pile back after laying down an inside straight. Big laughers, adventure seekers, and riverboat gamblers. Those are the folks I am looking to meet.
I could use the above paragraph to describe about maybe a dozen people in my life. Some have been with me since high school, while others have just recently joined the ride. These are the folks not unlike the kids who helped me survive the final hour of grammar school on Friday. Just knowing I would get to spend a weekend with them got me through it.
Speaking of weekends, why don’t you join us for one? We’ll talk friends of all kinds, friends for all times, and friends that fit a moment in time. Some come and go, but the ones who really matter stay with us when they're gone.