Colin is one of my best friends. I have always been confused as to why this is, since we have very few mutual friends. I know that if you read this and you know both of us, you’ll be confused, because we don’t have much in common.

But I don’t have to justify our friendship to ANYONE!

…

Here’s the story:

We happened to meet at debate camp two years ago, having ~1.5 conversations over the whole summer. Somehow we ended up becoming Gchat friends (which is how all debaters become friends), having occasional chats here and there about random things: mutual friends, the British TV show Skins, and our angsty love lives.

Eventually, we started opening up to each other about other issues in our lives. This happened over the course of two years. We had our ups and downs. We disagreed about Bon Iver, people in the debate community, and the importance of exercise.

At this point, Colin knows so much about me that he knows why I do what I do, and what I want the future to look like. I know his internal agenda, and how he’s gonna react to whatever life throws his way.

We are the textbook example of a successful long distance friendship, because we talk nearly every day. And now, we aren’t even technically long distance anymore; we only live 2 measly hours away from each other! Even then, we do not see each other in person a lot. That’s okay.

In case you didn’t know, he’s a really talented LD debater.

He is one of the first people I want to tell about something awful or horrible that’s happened to me. And this is the difference between me and most of my other cyber-friends, that Colin knows everything that’s happening in my life as it happens, in real time.

I think we’re past the point where we’d judge each other for anything. Our texts are screenshots of conversations or demands to like one another’s most recent tweet. It’s hilarious.

When he knows I’m down, he does funny shit to cheer me up, using dramatic gestures such as going through my Instagram and Twitter and liking every post.

Happy birthday, and see you soon!

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We bonded so much over this song: