FRIENDS: HOW MANY OF US HAVE THEM?

Friend 2: Bryan Hackett
- I had to find the very best pic of Bryan that I could find because, besides my wife and Jesus, he's my very best friend! That wasn't always the case, though.

I'm a year older (and taller) than Bryan. He started school at WT my sophomore year and we got off to a horrible start! I'll give you the ten peso version. See, there was this girl (you know it's either really bad, really funny, or both when the story starts with "there was this girl.")... I had been dating this girl for a while at this point and she and I had gotten pretty serious. Bryan comes in as this freshman scum and immediately falls for her. Thus began the feud. Nobody won!

Over the next couple of years, Bryan and I played in the band together and sang in various ensembles together. Apparently, we couldn't get enough of each other. The problem was that we couldn't stand each other! He hated me, I hated him. We even stood next to each other and sang "praise" to God... and wanted to strangle each other!

It had ended up that the girl I was dating dumped me, he went after her... and failed, and we were both bitter. Bitter at her for not wanting either of us, bitter at each other for having gone after her, just plain bitter. Then, Bryan's junior year, along comes Susan. She swept him off his feet. It was the first time he had ever confided in me about anything, "I really like her, Rob, and I hope she likes me, too."
"Go for it, Dude. What's it gonna hurt?"
(Can we say, "Worst soap opera ever?!")

Twelve years later Bryan and Susan have a fantastic marriage and two beautiful children together, and I have the best friend a guy could ask for. Love ya, Bry-guy!



Peace, Love, and Dark Chocolate