I’ve known my friend Chuck Munro for more than 25 years. We met at the University of South Florida Theatre Department, where we were both taking acting degrees. We worked together in classes, and acted together in A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Helena and Demetrius, and I had the fun of being in the chorus of Jesus Christ Superstar when Chuck played Judas Iscariot. Chuck was handsome and talented (a great actor and singer). He had a beautiful smile. He attended to people in the oldest sense of the word — when Chuck turned his attention fully toward you, you felt as if you were his only priority for that moment. And he had a reserved charm, a sense of something held back behind that killer smile. We all fell in love with him.
He was one of my two close friends in college (I’ll be talking about the other one in a couple of weeks…) At that point in my life I had taken reserve to a new art form, but Chuck was someone I could always talk to. He was comfortable to be with. He made me feel smart and interesting and safe being myself, even when my self was really weird.
And he introduced me to the music of U2. For that alone he stands among the awesome people in my pantheon (grin).
When Chuck moved to Chicago, he lived for a time with me and my roommate until he found a place of his own. And with that place, a life of his own. I left Chicago in 1987 and we’ve never lived close to each other since. He came to my wedding, and I went to his, but really we are the kind of friends who speak maybe once a year — and it’s always as if we just talked yesterday. Our friendship doesn’t seem to operate on linear time. When I was in Chicago last year we met up — only briefly, because life is so damn busy — and I cried to leave him because he is still that special, still handsome and smart, a charming, questing soul with a killer smile and compassion in his heart for everyone.
Happy birthday, Chuck. I love you.
I have a friend in Guadalajara who is my equivalent of your Chuck. His name is Miguel and we also met while working in theater. We talk once or twice a year since I moved away. This post made me think of him and miss the warmth of living in the same city.
I hope you see each other soon. And that he enjoys his birthday. May this year bring you truckloads of happiness, Chuck 🙂
Remember when Art and I took an urban vacation to Chicago? All these years later I still have this huge memory of you, me, Art and Chuck meeting in the city for lunch and then going to the Psychic Fair. What an outrageously wonderful afternoon. Chuck, happy birthday! Kelley’s right … you still have that killer smile! Sharon …(the mum) … bluenote
@ Mum — I sure do remember that trip. Fun, fun. I felt so cosmopolitan, doing Alternative Things in the Big City….