A walk down memory Lane

The best place to start any story is at the beginning, whether real or fictional. This story is the recounting of some of my memories with my best friend Dj.

I met Dj when I was twelve, it was the summer before we entered seventh grade at the local junior high school. It wasn't a chance meeting, our sisters' had met somewhere and then our moms met. It was decided for us that we were to meet and play nice, a decision we resented at first. Neither of us had friends, neither of us was that enthusiastic about making them either since we had gotten burned and bullied a lot by our peers up too by this point. I wanted nothing more than to be left to my video games, likewise, he wanted nothing more than to be left to his own devices.

I remember I was playing a Mario Bros game on an old NES system I had bought despite the current systems were the Nintendo 64 and the Playstation, although I couldn't afford the most up-to-date stuff I was happy replaying my childhood games. Mom poked her head into my room and insisted I come out to say hi. I protested, my eyes never leaving the screen. My mom threatened to ground me from my console, so rather unhappily I followed her outside and stood in the yard feeling awkward. Our moms appeared to get tired of us just standing there like bumps on a log and sent us to “go play. Get acquainted.” We walked to the side of the double-wide trailer I was living in at the time, still feeling awkward but we decided to hang out in the wooded area behind my house. We talked about our interests and found we did have stuff in common, today we laugh about how we only became friends because of our moms.

Over the next couple of years, our friendship grew. I would celebrate New Year's and the fourth of July with Dj and his family, but the first time I spent the night at his house was an experience I won't ever forget. In the course of the three years leading up to that night, I must have met Dj's dad Dan a few times but I don't remember it. He worked early in the morning at a construction material company making stuff like concrete if I understood correctly. Dan was already in bed for the night when I had arrived to hang out, excited and nervous as I was. I was standing in the living room when Dj said “Night dude” and shuffled off to bed, no one had told me where to sleep or offered me a blanket and pillow. I decided to lay on the floor, thinking the trench coat I was wearing would keep me warm. I was wrong, that autumn night got colder than I expected. I woke up with a start, very stiff from sleeping on the cold hard living room floor and there was Dan, sitting on his couch smoking a cigarette and staring at me. “Morning,” he said, clearly amused by this strange kid waking up. I was told later he joked that I looked dead until I jolted back to life.

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday and we decided to trick-or-treat one last time, we didn't care that we were too "old" for trick-or-treating at sixteen. We had met a few fellow outcasts at school that we hung out with, Dj had gotten his driver's license and a minivan around his birthday that year. Perfect for us all to go out one last time. The original plan, quickly scrapped due to the number of places we count think of was less than five and even fewer were public, was to go investigate supposedly haunted locations. The problem with the trick-or-treating plan was that we had lost track of the time so most people had already turned off their lights. Dj proposed trick or treating at the richest man in town's house. We all got super excited and agreed to this new plan, went down a dirt road, and parked outside of an electric gate. There was some debate about who would ring the bell on the panel, four of us standing outside and Dj still sitting in the driver's seat. It was decided that I should. I rolled my eyes at them and did it. Dj realized it was after eleven and as we were about to climb back into the van a voice come over the intercom saying hello. “Trick or treat!” I laughed, which was answered by laughter followed by a rather cheerful “come on in!” as the gate rattled open. I was too shocked to do much of anything else except follow the path to the house, the owner stood in the doorway with a big grin on his face while in his housecoat. “You kids woke me up, but it's alright. Happy Halloween! Let's see what I have in my fridge...” He gave us a mini candy bar each and we had a new story to tell. When we got back to the gate, we found Dj a bit angry because he had been left behind. He was trying to park the car and the gate had shut. Still, a night to remember for us all.

I went through a severe rough patch shortly after that, I would cut myself just to feel due to severe depression. Dj was there for all of it, as much as possible. He called the police on me at one point, fearing what I might do if he didn't intervene. I was put into the mental wards of the local hospital a few times and sent to a group home for my mental state and unstable home environment. Once I was home, I had gained a ton of weight and five of us sat around on playground equipment at a park after dark. We were bored nineteen-year-olds, playing truth or dare. I don't remember much from that night, but I remember being dared to take off my shirt, rub my belly and yell “I am the great fucking Budda!” I did, with a laugh.

One summer Dj, his girlfriend Rebecca, Dan and I went out on the lake to go tubing. When it was my turn, I tried to get outside of the wake. Dj noticed it and pointed it out to Dan who proceeded to go a little faster and make tight turns to allow me to be put on the more turbulent waters outside of the boat's wake. I do not know how or why, but the tube I was riding jumped and flipped in the air. Rebecca, who had been recording the day's event on her camcorder alerted them to it. Dan slowed the boat down and then saw me laughing my head off still on the tube. They pulled me back in, everyone seemed shocked that I was able to hold on and Rebecca was disappointed she had turned on the camera just moments before. “Dude! Why couldn't you do that sooner!”

I served as the best man at Dj's wedding, he served as one of the best men at mine. We did a ton of stupid stuff together, like the time I allowed Dj and Rebecca to bury me in the sand. Dj decided to make me into art and started creating a mermaid out of me. I didn't care, it was all in good fun. Then he added the boobs and we all cracked up laughing.

Two years ago my wife and I took Dj out for his birthday, he wanted to get drinks at a local bar and I opted to get food before had. I ate a half-pound roast beef sandwich and a market-fresh sandwich before we got to the bar. The bar was too packed for anyone's comfort, so we took him to a restaurant that served drinks instead. I ate a full course meal there and had a drink, toasting my friend. My wife looked at my empty plates and told Dj “I don't know where he puts it!” Without missing a beat, Dj grabbed his drink, shrugged, and said “He's Aaron” as he took a sip. That has become his standby response to explain anything at all about me. The benefits of being friends for over twenty years is you just get each other, you don't have to explain but every so often it's nice to wander down memory lane and say “Do you remember that time...” which never ends with just a story.

Dj and I are still great friends, despite almost losing that friendship on three separate occasions. We have laughed, we have cried, we have shared so many experiences that we have become brothers. If you find a friend like this, cherish them. A friendship this deep seems rare.