I remember the Newberg COC "talent show" in the Stutzman's backyard. Nik and I sang "Lean on Me". Nik also played acoustic guitar. We had talked during our rehearsals about how nervous we were and decided to make a stage gag out of it to break the ice. 

So, once we were on stage, while I introduced the song and casually mentioned we had butterflies in our stomach, Nik took a bottle of pepto bismol out of his pocket and pretended to chug it. It got a good laugh and broke the ice just as we expected!

Nik and I, (Nick) I used to leave near the "new middle school" but I moved there well before it was built.

In the mid 90s summers Nik, Sage, Myself and sometime others would camp out on my back deck or in the orchard behind Nik's house. We never used any tents. We watched the stars, specifically shooting starts, talk about life (as we knew it) girls, music, listen to grunge. I liked grunge alright, but it was certainly Nik's favorite.

One particular summer probably 1996 I'm guessing. The new middle school was almost completed. At 2am we walked through the hazelnut orchard. Everything North of Hilltop Dr was orchard or pasture. We walked a line which would be exactly where Natalie road is now and then down the bluff and out into the tall grass fields full of Canadian Geese before it was the Darnell Wright complex. We walked up to the middle school which was 95% complete. One of the side entrance doors didnt have a lock installed yet. I find that odd now but the chance seemed reasonable back then! The three of us played basketball inside the new school gym (we brought the ball) and listened to Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden and Nirvana on the sony stereo radio left overnight by the construction workers.

After we finished playing we collected all their soda cans and stacked them in a pyramid about eye level on the main staircase (I was probably 6ft tall at the time.) We put their microwaves up on the 10' basketball hoops and just to be dorks we hid a few random tools in different lockers.

We walked back to my house through the orchard and got in our hottub at about 5am.

Whenever I hear 90s grunge, Nik is there. I can hear his voice and see the inflections of his face in my mind eye as if he is standing beside me. I have been very consciously aware of this musically associated nostalgia for decades. He will follow me throughout my life. I hope I had some kind of positive influence on him as well!

I met and befriended nikolas when we  both 15 years old.

We met in middle school in Newberg Oregon.

There was an instant connection between us and we were quite the duo for a long time. We enjoyed countless days and nights of music together trips to and from the beach and poetry nights. We placed second in acting comp our junior year in high school and we're roommates two or three times within his life.

Rest in peace my good friend. You are in a much better place.

Love you "wiggins"