The first time I ever saw Bixby Wheeler we were all skating in the parking lot of the Gull Lake Church of Christ on the brand-new blacktop. He had dreadlocks then and I remember thinking: A white dude with dreadlocks? No thanks. But it was a hot day in the dead of summer and when he saw me glance at his Pepsi bottle, without a thought, without ever having met me, he held it out and asked if I wanted some. And we started talking and then we became friends. That was so long ago now, pre-everything.