So here I]]> It’s been a while since I’ve written a post about Curtis for this website. I’ve thought about it pretty frequently since my last post in April – as Curtis crosses my mind in some way nearly every day – but I have not taken the time to sit down and write something up.

So here I am.

Today’s title: What Would Curtis Do?

Today’s topic, nearly one in the same as the title, under the light of life experiences since my last posting here. And just what has been happening in my life since?

A whole lot actually. Good, not so good, and everywhere in between. I’ve been through thick and thin basically, probably like a lot of other people reading this. And by “thick and thin”, I mean both as a direct result of my decisions and chosen path in life, as well as with events and circumstances entirely out of my control.

An example of the former would be the business I run, and have chosen to devote myself fully to – including the ‘temporary’ postponement of college.

An example of the latter would be my 91 year old grandmother and her short time left on this Earth (she’s ill, and I don’t believe she’ll be around much longer in her current condition).

While these two examples differ dramatically in source – one is within my sphere of influence and the other is not – I guide myself through both types of experiences with the same guiding principle: WWCD.

What Would Curtis Do.

Surprisingly enough, this is more of an eupehmism than anything else, because my answer to the question is always the same: Curtis would do what he decides is right, at all costs.

Of all things unique and remarkable about Curtis, this was perhaps one of the greatest – his inflexiblity with regards to “right action”, at an incredibly young age.

This by no means made Curtis a perfect, infallible person, far from it in fact – but there is perfection in imperfection, and Curtis is the ideal man for this expression.

As far my memory serves me, Curtis never compromised for his highest value, his most important virtue – to do what is right, by his own judgement, at all times, and in all ways.

In an age increasingly saturated with compromise, hypocrisy, contradiction, ambiguity, and other words synonymous with politically correct nonsense, this was indeed the rare trait of an even rarer man – a trait that many of us deeply respected and admired, not unlike Curtis himself – knowingly or unknowingly.

Which leaves me to wonder why exactly Curtis is missed so much, by so many. Obviously, it’s tragic a bright young man with an even brighter future died of cancer, both for his immense amount of friends, and of course, his immediate and extended family.

But what I’m getting at is a whole lot different – that deep down, Curtis is missed so much by many because we (conciously or unconsciously), recognized that Curtis was an extremley rare breed of man.

The kind of man who was extremely independent, had a disdain for arbitrary authority, and an even greater disdain for blind obedience – and above all, always acted upon what he decided was the right course of action, for himself, his family, and his friends – even if others overwhelmingly disagreed with his decisions.

While once praised, these traits have been progressively shunned into oblivion over the past few decades, leaving me to wonder how much we miss not only the young man Curtis Noll, but what he stood for as well.

What he expressed so vividly in his short life, that he woke up every day to live fully and completely.

I had recently met Nick Howard on the school bus during our first day at Fort Myers High School (it’s scary how long ago that was, and how fast time has passed!). So this was …  early September of 2002 I believe.

Nick and]]>

Surprise, you can bet your butt it was a day I’ll never forget!

I had recently met Nick Howard on the school bus during our first day at Fort Myers High School (it’s scary how long ago that was, and how fast time has passed!). So this was …  early September of 2002 I believe.

Nick and I were both into boats, and water sports, so naturally we started talking about this commonality – while simultaneously being terrified of going to ‘high school’ for our first time. Eventually we discovered we both owned boats, and soon after decided to take one of them out for a spin to do some wake boarding.

At some point Nick mentioned something along the lines of bringing his “crazy friend Curtis” (don’t quote me on that). And sure enough we all ended up going wake boarding in my boat, and having a great time. Not surprisingly, Curtis was many times better than myself at the sport, and probably 2-3x better than Nick =P.

That wasn’t exactly how I met Curtis though. I met him just before going out on the boat where we more or less ‘hung out’ for the first time. He and Nick had come to my house – perhaps to bring me to Nick’s house to check out the wake boards – and Curtis had pulled into my driveway rather fast.

What made the next 60 seconds interesting was two fold.

One: Curtis being young, and wanting to speed in his green Mustang (age perhaps being irrelevant now that I think about it).

Two: The street my house was on, was under heavy construction. Essentially, all of the asphault had been torn up and was in the mean time dirt/small rocks.

These two factors, in conjunction, created one of the most frightening car rides of my life. We didn’t go that fast of course, but with Curtis and Nick manically laughing their heads off, dirt flying everywhere, and the car swerving everywhere … well, you get the picture (and I was barely 14 no less).

In any case, once he pulled onto El Dorado he toned it down a bit as it was all in good fun.

However, the last thing I remember, and never forgot, was this song (maybe not safe for work) that started playing in his car.

Now, this may be news to some, but I am for the most part musically and culturally ‘ignorant’ for lack of a better term. In light of this, I never knew who sang this song, or what the title of the song was (thanks to Caity Kauffman for the find), BUT, I knew it sounded really cool in Curtis’s Mustang with his after-market sub-woofers.

What’s interesting is that for years, and years, and years, this was virtually the only song I requested Curtis play in his car.

All sorts of people would request all sorts of music in the Curtismobile, but I always asked “Hey man, can you play that BOOOM AND THE AMPLIFIERS song?”

Never once did he mention the title HA!

He would just play it if he had the CD with him, or if he didn’t, I was SOL.

Fun times, fun goofy music.

I remember sitting out in front of Curtis’s house cracking open coconuts some time ago. How long ago exactly, I really can’t say.

But I remember it pretty vividly, and I don’t know why. We were just bored one]]> Nothing too deep today, just a fond memory. (Perhaps, in an entirely heterosexual way, the fondest of all).

I remember sitting out in front of Curtis’s house cracking open coconuts some time ago. How long ago exactly, I really can’t say.

But I remember it pretty vividly, and I don’t know why. We were just bored one day, bored out of our minds in “Cape Coma” as the youngins call it .

We decided to go back behind his house, and possibly his neighbor’s as well (what else is new right? lol), grab fallen coconuts, crack them open, and eat the flesh/drink the water (coconut “water” is actually what we find in coconuts, not “milk” which is a product).

No particular reason. We both liked coconuts, but weren’t crazy about them. We just decided to grab coconuts, and eat them, out of sheer boredom!

It was somehow invigorating then – I suspect due to the hands on work required that is so foreign to my generation today- and highly amusing now. Two kids with nothing better to do than eat coconuts on a hot summer day…

I don’t even remember how we opened them exactly, but I do remember it being a major pain in the butt – far harder than either of us anticipated on the top of his driveway.

The coconut “meat” itself was delicious, the water, ehh, not so bad, not so good, just OK.

This of course, doesn’t apply to the coconut water we spilled all over ourselves in the process of cracking open coconuts on a driveway/with a hatchet of some kind.

I might even remember his dad laughing at us… wondering what the hell we were doing cracking open coconuts on his driveway at high noon. Ha!

Anyway, I wanted to point out that this, honestly, is one of the fondest memories I have of hanging out with Curtis. It was ridiculously simple, and there wasn’t any real point to eating the coconuts… but maybe that’s the point, and why most of this memory is so clear in my head, almost like a video.

The knack that interests me today though is his watchful eye – is because, somehow, I still think it’s around.

Some 2 and a half years ago I made one of the biggest mistakes of my]]> Curtis had a knack for a lot of different things. Some good, some not so good – like traffic violations =).

The knack that interests me today though is his watchful eye – is because, somehow, I still think it’s around.

Some 2 and a half years ago I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life, and managed to drag Curtis into it (for once I was getting us into trouble, and Mr. Noll wasn’t around to save us!).  It’s a tale for another day, but for relevancy’s sake let’s say that my past caught up with me today to at least some degree.

That “catching up” required my immediate attention, via phone and at UCF Campus. I wasn’t worried or stressed however, unlike my history with this specific incident. In fact, I felt “pumped”. I was FED UP dealing with something as utterly ridiculous and ancient as this.

What I felt, and the way I behaved, was assertive.

And I have to wonder, how much of that is due to

1. Hanging out with Curtis (who was incredibly assertive)
2. The fact that this “incident” had a lot to do with Curtis

After dealing with a few phone conversations I ventured off to UCF Legal Services. Upon arriving I met this girl who was in the waiting area. We began talking, and I soon found out her brother had died in December of 2009 – hit by a car in his wheelchair no less.

I could immediately tell she was uncomfortable talking about it, so I didn’t pry for any more information. She then asked why I was in the office, and I told her – for the next 20 minutes.

From A-Z, what had happened, Curtis’s involvement, and eventual death. Strangely, it was the first time I could remember where I had spoken about Curtis, vividly, and wasn’t choked up about it.

In fact I was strangely calm, and clear.

And you know what? From what I could see, it cheered her up. For what reason, I’ll never know for sure. My hunch however is that she knew that I could relate to the passing of her brother just ~2 months ago.

Under that same light, she could see that I was no longer uncomfortable talking about Curtis. Sure, it’s a touchy subject, and I certainly feel sorrow when speaking about him – but it’s a total 180 from her situation.

Me in her situation? (time wise).

I was depressed to the Nth degree inside. For weeks, months on end, I felt sad, weird, and what have you inside. Name the feeling that makes you want to choke up and start crying (or indeed, causes such action), and I felt it – as I’m sure she does just weeks after her brother’s brutal death.

Anyway, I had to wait another 30 minutes while she was with my legal counsel drawing up her will. During that time, I had to wonder, how much did Curtis influence what just happened?

Indirectly through the memories and impressions he left behind, or even directly?

I’m not especially superstitious or even religious for that matter – but to see a sibling left behind go from the brink of tears, to nearly laughing at some of the things I said about what Curtis and I did, nearly 2.5 years ago?

That’s an impressive legacy to say the least on Curtis’s part.

And hey, it looks like everything is going to turn out alright after all this time. Watchful eye indeed.

-Anthony

Curtis Franklin Noll was quite possibly one of the wisest young adults to have ever grown up in and ventured out from South West Florida.

Some I’m sure, could argue otherwise. Just take a look at his traffic violations… ha!

But, minor mishaps such as these are a small]]>

Curtis Franklin Noll was quite possibly one of the wisest young adults to have ever grown up in and ventured out from South West Florida.

Some I’m sure, could argue otherwise. Just take a look at his traffic violations… ha!

But, minor mishaps such as these are a small price he paid to live an exciting, event filled, and full life, in such a drastically short amount of time.

He not only “lived life to the fullest”, but he did so in a way that allowed him to share this wisdom that was well beyond his years. Anyone that met and spoke with him for more than 30 seconds could tell you he lived his life in a way that inspired.

Not just his friends, not just his neighbors, not even just his family, but nearly every single person he came into contact with – right down to the cashier having a bad day at Publix (someone we usually hand our money to and don’t think twice about after the fact).

He constantly beamed confidence, shined with enthusiasm, and lived his daily life with a curiosity that most of us hardly knew as children, let alone as adults.

To say that Curtis Noll had the potential to play an important role in the future of his peers in South West Florida would probably be an understatement.

Had he lived on, there is little doubt in my mind that he had the potential to greatly influence not only his local community and peers, but perhaps a whole lot more. Curtis, I think, was a rare and unique individual with the ability to change the course of an entire generation, had he the time and means to express himself on a grander scale (something I believe he would have eventually found on his own, or stumbled on to by chance).

To this day, I have never met another person quite like him.

It is because of all of the above that I have chosen to start this site, CurtisNoll.com. I believe he is someone that we all miss dearly, and that memories of him should not be forgotten.

Not only so we can all share our crazy stories of hanging out with him, and not only so his family can hear the stories that uh … never quite got around to them =), but so we can continue to learn from Curtis, even now when he is gone.

He may have been young, but he packed more experience and wisdom there of into his life than many people will in a life time. I certainly can’t speak for everyone, but I often find myself looking back to my memories of hanging out with him for guidance. The decisions he made, the actions he took, and the things he said … were far reaching and broadly applicable, at the very least.

Anyway, I could go on and on about my old friend – and probably will on this site – but CurtisNoll.com is for everyone, not any one individual (besides maybe Curtis I guess). I set the web site up so anyone that knew him could make a “contributor” posting account, and post their own stories and memories of Curtis and events surrounding his life.

Simply click Submit a Story and read the simple instructions. It should take no more than 90 seconds to create an account and then log in to the site, and begin posting.

The site software in use is WordPress. Long story short, if you can use Facebook, you can probably use WordPress. It really is simple and easy to use.

Once a story is submitted it goes into the posting que. I take a look at it to make sure it’s not advertising from a spam bot, and then click approve. It will then be published the first day there is not a story already being posted (so if you submit a story on Wednesday, and someone else already had their story published that day, yours will release Thursday). Also, if there is anything more advanced that you are unable to figure out for a post, like hosting a picture or video, just contact me and I’ll take care of it.

Just be sure to edit your memory of Curtis for grammar, and try to keep it PG-13, without losing the meaning of the story or distorting the actual events of what happened.

I currently run two blogs, but I think I can find time for one more … for an old friend, and will post here somewhat frequently myself when time allows.

Miss ya bud

-Anthony Johnson