Making a million friends is not a miracle. The miracle is to make a friend who will stand by you when millions are against you. Best friends are people you don’t need to talk to every single day. You don’t need to talk to each other for weeks, but when you do, it’s as if you’d never stopped talking. They say a best friend is hard to find. I’m extremely fortunate to have found mine, and he goes by the name Frederick John Field III, or, as he likes to be called, Jack Field. I mean it when I say we’ve been through it all together. And I can truthfully say that we will be best friends for life. I have God to thank for that. God and Jack Field, that is.
Quite simply, there is no one on this Earth I argue with more than my friend Jack. No question about it. It’s actually quite ironic, too. A rather shy person, I despise arguing and literally cannot stand it. However, he’s earned himself a reputation of always arguing with people, sometimes about the most random of topics. Most times, it seems as if he lives for the satisfaction of winning an argument/being correct. And so I take it upon myself to prove him wrong or just put in my two cents. I enjoy it. Some friend I am, huh? With anyone else, though, I would never dare get into an argument. I don’t have the same personal connection with them that I share with him. It’s something special that we’ve built up over these past twelve or so years. You’d never guess that after watching us get into a little quarrel, though. I can vividly remember an argument we had this past summer. The two of us were sitting by the fire at his girlfriend’s house, just enjoying life. I was perusing through my Twitter feed and happened to come across Dr. Ben Carson’s account. I clicked on the link to his website and began to read through his positions on various issues. One stood out like a sore thumb. “Abortion.” A topic I feel very strongly about. I skimmed through Carson’s stance and relayed it to Jack, thinking he’d see the validity in it and take a liking to Carson. At this point in time, I was throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him in an attempt to sway his political views. What everyone envisions when they think of a “best friend,” right? Anyways, Jack actually disagreed with Carson’s anti-abortion stance. I could not believe it. We argued and we argued. It got really heated. Mind you, it was about 10:30 pm on a Wednesday night. His girlfriend repeatedly told us to be quiet because she thought we were going to wake up her parents. It got to the point where we were actually shouting at each other. I was doling out facts, like usual. I even used the example of “Modern Family” to illustrate the benefits of choosing adoption over abortion. How awesome is that! We finally stopped arguing and hugged it out, because that’s what best friends do. I think that’s easily one of the coolest things about our friends. We fight, we argue, we get mad at each other. But we will have each other’s back until the end. Like they say, “A best friend should love you like a mother, protect you like a father, talk to you like a sister, and fight with you like a brother.” And boy does that hold true in our relationship!
Wow. Seems like it was just yesterday when Jack and I went to Florida together (with our families, of course.) It was April 2007. My mother had passed away after a long fight with cancer just a few months before. I was at the lowest point in my life. It seemed as if my life was over. Thankfully, his family showed us the love and care that we needed. And it was more than just them bringing us along for the ride. It was much, much more than that. Merely, it was an act of love; to let us know that they’d always be there. I’m a firm believer that God often sends his blessings through the thoughtful people He brings into our lives. Now nine years removed from the situation, I look back and realize the validity of that principle. Without reservation, I feel closest to his family above all else. The Field family truly is a blessing from God. There is a special bond that my family shares with them, which I believe was created on the trip. Back to the story, now. Once my father shared the news, I could not contain my excitement. I had been to Florida just once before. I had an awesome time but knew that this time would be exponentially better because I’d be with my best friend. I distinctly remember the exhilaration that I felt all throughout the day we flew down. We touched down a little before midnight. I forced myself to stay up. We ended up getting to the hotel a little before 1:00 am––classic Enterprise! Oh, they’ll pick you up alright, sometimes just an hour or two behind schedule. As we pulled into the hotel, I was in amazement at the sheer size and intricacy of the building. Look up the “Marriott Grande Vista” to see for yourself, and remember to put yourself in the shoes of an eight-year-old. Unfortunately, we got to the room and Jack’s whole family was asleep. I contemplated waking him up, but my moral compass advised me to do otherwise. Lucky him. Interestingly enough, he actually woke me up bright and early that next morning. Funny how the world works, right? Don’t worry, though, I let him know how I felt about that when we went swimming later that afternoon. There may or may not have been a few water cannons adjacent to the pool. Usually gets the message across! Now that I think about it, the trip only got better as the days went by. Downtown Disney was a blast. But Disney, the best place in the world–at the time, of course–was an experience unlike any other. Imagine that: Jack and I, two best friends, in the place where the dreams of children come true. By all means, we made the most of our time at “The Happiest Place on Earth.” He introduced me to “Splash Mountain”, “Space Mountain,” and all of the other riveting rides. I learned firsthand about the power of “fast passes”; life-savers! I met my childhood hero, Mickey Mouse, and his damsel in distress, Minnie. And the magical night ended–how else–with a fantastic show of fireworks. A day or two later, we went to Aquatica, the water park at SeaWorld. What a day! They had some incredible rides. After some “constructive” criticism from Jack, I finally built up the courage to go down the biggest slide they had to offer. It was a steep slide that jets you down a clear tube which ultimately takes you through a pool that houses some of the park’s animals. The “Dolphin Plunge,” they called it. And believe me, it was a lot more terrifying than the name. I made sure to slow myself down enough to catch a brief glimpse of the dolphins. You truly don’t appreciate the size and magnificence of the creatures until you see them up close like that. Awesome experience. Essentially the rest of the trip was spent at the hotel. We made sure to get full use out of the amenities, which meant going in the “adults-only” hot tub in an effort to show off our “bad boy” side to the eight-year-old girls also staying there. We didn’t get our storybook ending, but we did enjoy maybe one or two minutes in the tub. Typical Marriott employee, shooting down the dreams of two ladykillers. Clearly he did not support our lofty ambitions. It’s not always sunny in Orlando, sadly. We made sure to steer clear of that guy and spent practically the rest of our time poolside. We even had a few “friendly” contests. The odds were hardly ever in my favor, as he was a stronger swimmer, but I actually won the “best handstand” contest on the last day. I gave him an earful about that one for weeks on end. Nothing irks an eight-year-old more than losing a handstand contest, trust me. He did have me beat in the cannonball contest, in which you see who can knock more water out of the pool/make bigger waves. But no one cared too much about that. I mean, it’s a game in which the more heavyset individual wins 99% of the time. So who’s the real winner in that one? Haha. There’s one part of our vacation that I’ll never forget. Jack and I were walking from our room to the pool, and he stopped suddenly. He’d been eyeing the air tattoo stand for a while now, but had never said anything about it. Out of nowhere, he begged me–repeatedly–to ask the woman working if the tattoos hurt or not. I burst out into laughter. I tried to explain that the machine would solely blow air on you and that all you’d feel is a little tickle. He refused to believe me, however, and I was forced to ask the woman. She gave virtually the same answer and proceeded to laugh and give me a weird look. Classy. Anyways, Jack seemed to think this was funny. He made fun of me and joked that the woman probably thought I had some type of problem. But what’s really funny is that to this day, he denies that he ever pleaded for me to ask the woman. Believe me when I say it, though. You can’t make this stuff up! Truthfully, I cannot think of a more perfect example to describe our relationship. Without question, nothing has changed between us since the trip. We still love to poke fun at each other and just have a great time in whatever it is that we are doing. Let’s keep it that way, Jack. To more adventures in the future!
A good friend knows all of your best stories. A best friend has lived them with you. The relevance of that statement in our friendship is astonishing. I remember with fondness my first day of kindergarten. Regrettably, I remember my “mushroom” haircut and the sweater vest my mother made me wear. Imagine that. I was, for all intents and purposes, petrified to start elementary school. My “Quintessential Quiet Man” side was alive and well; I won that award in pre-school. Thankfully, though, I met Jack on that first day. We were in the same class. And the rest, as they say, “is history”. We went on to be in all of the same classes for the rest of elementary and middle school. It actually wasn’t until the tenth grade that I had a class without him. I’ll admit that it was sad at first, but not a big deal considering we’ve been friends for over thirteen years. That being said, we have a titanic amount of memories together. Like seeing who could lose the most teeth in kindergarten. Or battling it out with our Yu-Gi-Oh duel disks. Trading baseball, basketball and football cards. Wrestling in my living room over who was more of a “ladies man”–mind you, we were in third grade at the time, he, unfortunately, has me beat badly in this category now. Who had the cooler pair of Nike Shox. All of the Yankees games we went to together; most notably the one time I threw up in his father’s car on the way home. Haha. All of the times my dad built him a bed out of the couch pillows for our sleepovers. Speaking of sleepovers, he and I have got to be in the hundreds by now. I might as well call the couch in his basement my bed. Feels like I’m there all too often. My dearest apologies, Mrs. Field. For all the times you’ve had to clean after your son and I (mostly your son). I wouldn’t trade the experiences we’ve shared for the world, Jack. And I mean it when I say it. So many of our memories are so close to my heart. They truly are times that I will never forget. For that, I am forever indebted.With love, thank you.
Sometimes in life, you find a special friend. Someone who changes your life just by being part of it. Someone who makes you laugh until you can't stop. Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world. Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it. This is forever friendship. And forever has no end. I simply cannot stress it enough, thank you so much for everything. You’re a brother to me. There’s not another person in the world I’d rather call my best friend. Like Hannah Montana said, “You’re one in a million.” She wasn’t lying! I really, really lucked out here. Thank you for always challenging me to be a better person. You’ve played a large part in my development as a man. I like to think that I’ve done the same for you. That said, don’t ever change, man. The future is bright for you; keep on making me proud! Very excited to see what you’ll go on to accomplish. Cannot wait to see what the college years have in store for us! Looking forward to another four years with you by my side! I must say, I hope this will end up being enough to ultimately secure the “best man” spot at your wedding, haha. If not, I understand, but just know that I might be away that day. I can say with confidence that my mother is looking down at the two of us and all we’ve accomplished thus far and is grinning from ear to ear. Could not have done a lot of things I’ve been able to without you, man. I love you like a brother. We always have been, and always will be best friends. I want you to always remember that if you fall, I will pick you up–just after I finish laughing, of course.
