My Friend, Ben
Preface: My friend Ben will be leaving for Cambodia to teach English for the Peace Corps in the coming days. He will be gone for 2 years and I’ll miss him greatly. I want to have a little time capsule that we will both be able to look back on in 50 years to represent what our friendship means to me.
Ben,
Not going to lie, some tears were shed even before I started to write this, and I know they will be during and after. I kind of wish the roles were reversed because you would blow me out of the water with your writing compared to mine, but I hope my lack of writing ability doesn’t undermine what you mean to me. We first met each other back in middle school on a rec basketball team. I wouldn’t say that our friendship started that early because I honestly don’t know if we ever exchanged words. We were both quiet kids. We followed the rules and did our best to get some 13-year-old buckets, even though you got a lot more than me. Some time passed and then we reconnected in high school on our soccer team. Even then, I don’t know how much we spoke to each other. It also seemed like we were always on opposite GT tracks in school which was unfortunate. Despite always being in adjacent social circles, we didn’t really connect until the summer between our junior and senior years of high school. That is when our friendship took off and we haven’t looked back since.
During that time, we were able to connect with our love of sports. I couldn’t ask for a better person to try to name every sports team going back and forth with each other. It was always a blast when a team like the Memphis Grizzlies or the Milwaukee Brewers would slip our minds and we did our best to remember them. Our love for sports has only grown and I’m going to miss being able to walk down the hall to poke my head into your room to ask you, “Who do you think has a faster 40 yard dash time, you or Joe Flacco?” I can ask those types of questions forever and I know you could hit me right back with them. Nights where I would fire off 20+ of those are some of my all-time favorite nights with you. You just know how to get my goose with some of your responses.
Thank you to you and your family for allowing your basement to become our version of Eric Foreman’s basement from That 70’s Show. Those were the times where we all grew together into arguably one person. We spent way too much time down there, but those were some of my favorite memories in high school. We talked about our pasts, our presents and our futures, which we are finally able to realize now.
Along the same lines, thank you for letting us use the river house. Once again, that gave us an opportunity to drop our cell phones and get closer as friends. Was there any other way Mega Bed would have been formed without the opportunity in Canada? We’ve had countless hours of great conversation up there which has helped us all form a lifelong bond. Our Canada trip is something that I always looked forward to no matter what time of the year it was. I would always think about how many more months or weeks had to pass until we could head back up there again. It was honestly like a marking of a new year for me. That’s how the trip is cemented in my head.
I couldn’t ask for a better person to go through some of the most formidable years of my life with. The end of high school and through college I know I’ve become a better young man because you were there with me. You gave me someone to look up to intellectually and emotionally, which I wouldn’t trade for anyone else. I am upset that we won’t be able to enter adulthood in the same hemisphere, but I know it’s for the best.
While I have begun my ascension up the corporate ladder, you are out in the world making a REAL and positive impact on people who need it. I couldn’t thank you enough for making the world a better place by having a tangible impact on people who need help. I hope you appreciate and realize the amount of impact you are about to have on other humans because not many people will be able to affect others like you. I am jealous of the amount of growth you will undergo in the next two years. You are about to be challenged by being put into a new country where you don’t know the language on the other side of the world, but I wouldn’t put anyone else there I know there above you. You are at the top of my Power Rankings for people qualified for the Peace Corps.
Once again, these words can’t express how much I care about you and our friendship. I’m going to miss being able to see you every day and shooting the shit with whatever sports topic, but I am too happy and excited for you. Also, thank you for giving me an excuse to check out Cambodia! Even though we won’t have a Canada trip next year, I think a trip to Cambodia should be a very solid replacement.
I can’t wait to see you only in a short year and I’m always a text or phone call away. Could you imagine doing this without the internet? I look forward to continuing our discussions on the greatest North American sports league, the NBA, and I hope you can get as much Ravens action as possible over there. I’ll do my best to be the best back up son your Dad could have. I’m aiming for Nick Foles type level of play. I can win the super bowl with your Dad while you are gone, but I’ll be traded away to Jacksonville when you get back.
My only request is for you to do some type of journaling or note taking of your time over there. I can’t stress enough how important this is to me, so I hope you follow through. I would give up r/NBA if I knew that would make you document your experience every day. That is how serious I am about it. I want you to not only share your experiences with me and others, but I want you to remember these times as vividly as possible when you are 90 because this is a once in a lifetime experience.
I’ll leave you off with this. Even though sadness and all of the similar emotions are what I feel when I think about you leaving, they are all washed away by a powerful undercurrent of calmness and confidence I have in you. I’m sure you are feeling very anxious, nervous, and sad leaving your home, but I have the ABSOLUTE and utmost confidence in you. I wouldn’t have those feelings if you didn’t display them to me every day. I truly mean that. So when you might feel some negative emotions in the coming months, please remember all of the reasons why I am able to call you my best friend. You have displayed strength, confidence, altruism, sympathy, and many more great qualities which makes you a great Peace Corps candidate and an even better friend. Love you buddy!
Love,
Nick
