Nathanial Garrod

My Best Friends

I have two of the kindest, most amazingest, steadfast friends.

I met them my senior year of high school. I still remember the day I found out they were going to Sonoma State. It was late in April, and they had decided their school months before. As I recall it, I had known they were going to Sonoma State, but never really connected it with the fact that they would be attending the same school as I the next fall.

We chatted a bit over the summer. We saw Transformers together when it came out. They invited me to an end-of-summer pool party/sleep-over the week before move-in at Sonoma State. I think this night was really the beginning of my college experience. I remember staying up until 2am playing video games and watching YouTube. They had shiny new Toshiba computers. Justin still has the same one. Around 2am, we watched 300. I remember falling asleep, then waking up, then falling asleep again.

The Saturday of move-in, I carried all my boxes to my room with my family. We got lunch, then they left. I remember that first Charlie Brown’s Caesar salad. Uncertain of what to do, I organized my room as I wanted it, then put on Back to the Future, with the directors commentary. I didn’t know what to do, or if there was even anything to do. Sitting in my room and watching movies seemed like the best idea. I had almost 30, which could be a few good weeks of entertainment, full with directors commentaries and everything.

Then I got a call from one of the twins, wanting to hang out. I met up with them, and we showed off our rooms. We hung out, ate dinner, went to see the hypnotist. The next day we hung out again. We went to Big Night together. And the next day, and the next day. There were so many next days.

I remember years of entrusted secrets. Years of adventures, of me coaxing, pushing, begging. Years of them saying “welll… maybe,” and my response: “you only live once,” “It’s all about the experience,” “in sixty years, we’ll probably have grandchildren, and what story to you want to tell them?” and many other variations of that line.

I remember them goading me to come visit them during Thanksgiving freshman year, and grazing on their leftovers. Curried fruit, Corn Casserole, stuffing, turkey, pie. I remember exchanging stories. Adventures.

Sophomore year we lived in the same building, and the adventures continued. Summer before junior year I got a car. I was an RA and lived on the other side of campus. Terribly distant, yet terribly close. They started parkour that year. I had other adventures. Yet whenever I needed them, they were always there. Holidays. Dinner nights. A few adventures. I remember sobbing on Justin’s bed while he played video games after a girlfriend broke up with me. I remember watching Justin play video games while sitting in silence after a girlfriend broke up with him.

At Christmas time junior year, we started talking about living arrangements for the next year. We had decided to live together. We began looking for a two or three bedroom apartment. We found a beautiful three bedroom condo across the street from school. It was unreal. It was impossible.  There was no way it could happen. But it did.

The house at Meridian was a whole new chapter in my life. In our lives. I finally got to live with my best friends. We had some good days. We had bad days, where we glared in fury. Those were shortlived, as we talked out what happened.

When I hang out with these two guys, they aren’t just my best friends. They are an extension of my family. I don’t at all mean to exclude others in our group. But these are the two that have always been there. These are the two that are steadfast and reliant. These two are my holidays. My friends.

When I’m with them, there’s so many inside jokes. Cumin. Pound/Cake. MUUFFFFFIIIINNNSSSS. Shoes. The sink. Simple things that would make no sense to anyone. Adventures that few know about, but just a word or gesture from them would bring my world to life. Would make me smile. Would bring light into the depths of my day.

I miss them. In case you couldn’t tell.

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This entry was posted on December 27, 2011 by in Uncategorized.

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