I'm 27.

I've known K since first grade. One of my earliest memories is us making eye contact on the playground, and then (for reasons neither of us can remember anymore) me letting out a primal warcry and chasing him around the jungle gym. That went on a lot in first and second grade, but it wasn't until 6th grade that we became friends.

Our class had gone away to science camp in the mountains for a week. And unlike most kids there, I was really sad. You see, in addition to this being the first time I had ever been away from home, it was also my birthday in the middle of the week, so I wouldn't be able to celebrate with my family. To make matters worse, no one at camp seemed to remember or notice. But K did. He wished me a happy birthday and hung out with me, and for the first time at camp I was having fun. Later he realized he had forgotten his pillow at home (he was my bunkmate), so I lent him mine for the week. From that day on, we were the best of friends.

There are all kinds of stories I could tell about him. There's the time he stood up for me when a kid broke my bicycle by stealing the kid's hockey puck, throwing it down the sewer drain, and then losing the kid and his goons on a mile long bike chase. There are the times we would go biking all over our town on the weekends, discovering "8th wonders of the world," playing cheeseburger hockey, and trying to work up the courage to buy the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition from 711.

When my family broke apart and I had to leave behind my childhood way too early, he would always be there if I showed up at his door crying and missing my Dad. We'd hang out, and for those few hours I could still be a kid and not have to face the responsibilities of being the man of the house.

We got older, and stayed best friends throughout middle school and high school. Friends and girlfriends would come and go, but we were always inseparable. Everyone would always comment about how we were never seen apart for very long. College came, and unfortunately we didn't end up going to the same school. However, we both made the effort to see each other at least once a month, taking turns driving up or down to visit. Eventually he graduated and came back to live in our hometown for work and things were great again.