If you know me at all you know I am a person who loves humor and who makes some really lame jokes. I love laughing. It's one of my favorite things to do. I love people who joke around with me. I love making people laugh and smile and I love those who make do the same to me. I have made many friends that make my good days even brighter.

But the people that are really special are the ones that stay when my days are dark and I'm not joking around.

I have had many defining moments in my life but one of the biggest is the fact that my father abandoned me when I was young. One of the people that should've loved me more than almost anything decided that I wasn't worth staying with or being a good father to. And because of that abandonment has always been something that I have feared. I fear that the ones I love will find no worth in keeping me and will leave like my father did. No matter how much I try to play off this as not being present even today, it is.

Back to the idea of friends. Friends have always been weird for me. I was afraid to let them get close. I used to have the fear that one day they will just leave me or stop talking to me or just not care to be around me. That was and is the scariest thing for me. And some did do exactly that, they left.

When times got hard and I changed who I was some friends abandoned me. The close ones that mattered. Because of that, the feelings I had from abandonment my father caused would rise up again. So even now when I have that fear I allow it to control me and I'll distance myself from those that I fear will abandon me to save myself from the pain.

I did that throughout middle and high school.(To an extent even now.) My "closest" friends back then really knew nothing about me or at least the real me. I didn't allow them to. But I always wanted a friend that I felt like I could be the real me with. I prayed to God constantly to give me a friend that wouldn't leave me like the others. One that would be a positive influence in my life. One that would be a light in the dark. One that could see my potential when all I could see was my failures. And He answered that.

David Joseph Duxbury was the answer to that prayer even though I didn't know it at the time I first met him. David and I met Sophomore year of high school in PE class. It's kinda funny how the class that I hated most was the class that ended up changing my life. I seriously hated PE...

Anyways, David is my best friend. In all my insecurities and doubts he helps me focus on God. He reminds me to not look at my own failures but to look at God and what He has brought me out of. On my worst days David was always the one I knew I could call on and he would find a way to make time to talk when I needed it or just get slushies so I could vent. He shows me what a quality relationship with God looks like. He shows me how to love people unconditionally. I can depend on him, I can trust him, he's always there when I need a friend, he has proven me wrong with every thought that I thought all friends would do...leave. I have given him many opportunities to leave but he always stayed.

He has shown me how to be a good friend and that some people will stay with me even in the hardest times and despite the scars of my past. So now I do my best to be that to other people. To love them and be there whenever they need me. So if you're my friend (most likely you are if you're reading this) then I want you to know I love you and will be there for you. I hope you do the same for your friends.