things you should know about tim johnson -

when we met,
(keep in mind i was 22),
i didn't want him to be "tim".

"tim" seemed so not him,
not unique enough, not tall enough, not blue-eyed enough, not blonde enough,
not enough enough,
so i wanted him to change his name.

(remember, again, i was 22. these were the things i thought were normal to ask.)

i thought, hell, i wasn't always "landis",
so surely he can change his name.

so i suggested "gray". think about it: gray johnson.
now THAT is a cool name.
and yes, much of it had to do with the thought of us being called
gray and landis. landis and gray.
it worked for me.

he kind of chuckled, and told me that he had plenty of names to choose from,
that maybe i could use one of his other given names.

so i took the bait and asked,
what are they?

he is, officially, on the birth certificate and all:
timothy michael thaddeus francis johnson.

at that point, i knew he would never be:
mike, tad, thad, fran, frank, deus . . .
or gray.

because he was tim. and that was all he would ever need to be.