36.
“He’s now my best friend. Sounds weird, I know. We met in the first grade. I’ll call him Chris. He lived around the corner. There were around 9-10 kids in the immediate vicinity that were all around the same age; we would all convene in someone’s front yard, and then do different activities all day. Riding bikes, playing army, tag, football, baseball…etc. This went on for a few years. But when we were in our early teens, Chris was hanging out with the older kids. High school kids.”
“Eventually, he started getting angry more often, and would lash out. We still would hang out from time to time, but if we were in a group, he would pick out one person, and just make their lives miserable for the night. Sometimes I was chosen. It was definitely not fun. I would eventually stop hanging out with him at all.
After high school, people change. We become the people we really want to be. We are able to move somewhere else, and get a start on our adult lives.Â
Anyhow, we both became responsible adults, and he apologized for the way he treated me, and others, in high school. We were both about 20. Since then, we have shared a wonderful friendship of 30 years. I feel like we had a sibling relationship, where he was an aggressive brother who didn’t understand how to deal with his feelings or emotions. Then, as he got older, he saw the error of his ways.
Now, we would do anything for each other. He is more of a brother to me than my actual brother. I love that guy.”