The fact that Hill Taylor White and Joshua Wilson have been friends since the 8th grade, despite attending different high schools and colleges, speaks volumes about their laidback, amiable and accepting personalities.
White and Wilson grew up together in a suburban neighborhood of Houston, but didn’t meet until the 8th grade as budding musicians. They started casually playing together with a group of other boys, with Wilson playing the guitar and White on the drums.
Their musical interests created the early foundation for a strong friendship. White said he and Wilson always had music in common, even when Wilson began to show more interest in it.
“Josh certainly showed at an earlier age that he was going to take his musical talent farther than anyone else in our group of friends,” White said. “I knew I couldn’t. But he’s always pushed my musical tastes further and really influenced me a lot in that regard.”
The new young friends separated during their sophomore year when they both left Texas to attend preparatory schools in different states. White attended Wasatch Academy in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, while Wilson attended Christ School in Arden, N.C., and then Idyllwild Arts Academy in Idyllwild, Calif.
But the time apart never caused a rift in their friendship, White said. In fact, it was the opposite and one of the aspects White said he loves about their relationship. He said they would both return to Houston during holiday breaks and instantly reconnect. Still to this day they share this, he said, shaking his head as though it should be impossible.
“It’s interesting, the way we have this ability to take off from nothing,” he said. “We’ll not talk for months, for various reasons, him being in Thailand or something, but the second we get on the phone, it is never like ‘Oh, hey, we haven’t talked in ages, how have you been?’ It’s always as if we saw each other yesterday. Every time.”
Wilson’s younger sister, Holly, even admitted the two boys are inseparable when in the same city.
“Taylor is always over when Josh is home!” she said.
White said Wilson’s open personality and their common disinterest in the typical party mentality are what make them so close.
“Josh is very easy to talk to,” White said. “I felt like I could trust Josh with all of my personal stuff. And although everybody has the tendency to judge people, I have to admit Josh is one of the least judgmental people I know. No matter what people are into, Josh can find the good qualities in them.”
Some of White’s fondest memories are with Wilson, made at home during those short breaks from school. White said their increasing independence and maturity made it hard for them to come home and relate to old friends at wild high school parties. The two boys had to find ways to have fun and entertain themselves beyond alcohol, drugs and irresponsibility. Although most nights would begin with nothing to do, they would always end up doing something unexpected, White said.
“Oh, some of it was still juvenile,” White admitted, laughing. “We seemed to always be up to something,. And there wasn’t anything you couldn’t get Josh to do. He’s up for anything.”
Holly described White and Wilson’s typical Saturday night, which was far from what she considers the mainstream high school experience.
“They stopped going to parties,” she said. “They’d usually hang around here, drink a beer or two and watch T.V. But then they would go play music or attend a concert or even just walk the dog really late at night.”
White admitted there are definite differences between them though, religion being one of them, which had the potential to cause clashes. Wilson had always been very interested in religion and it had been something that evolved and deepened throughout their friendship, he said.
“Josh is very open-minded about spirituality and wants to learn as much as he can about religion as a whole,” White said. “For a long time, I was agnostic and really not connected, but recently, especially since his trip to Thailand, we’ve talked more openly about it.”
For many people, religion can be a disruptive contrast but White said it has never affected their relationship.
White wasn’t told a whole lot about Wilson’s plans to ordain in Thailand, and he only received one very brief e-mail from Wilson during his trip.
“The lack of explanation and detail made the idea sort of shocking,” White said. “I had no idea what Josh was getting into, but I trusted him.”
Wilson visited White in Austin, where White is currently enrolled at St. Edward’s University, shortly after he returned from Thailand. White said although Wilson’s experience was life-changing and he could tell Wilson had learned a great deal, there were still no changes to their friendship.
“We’ve gone through so much together, despite distance,” White said. “That’s just part of our relationship, there’s something about us that allows us both to grow individually and change, but when we come together, it doesn’t separate us but just makes us closer.”
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