A final bow, a last look at all I have become, one last page to turn on this chapter.

As I stood off stage listening to my friend sing a beautiful song to end my final performance in Bill Will Hall, I couldn’t help but cry. I looked around and saw not only the other seniors but the underclassmen sobbing.

I saw the boy I have known since third grade, the one who taught me how to punch someone, the one who took the blame when I started fights in elementary school. I saw him crying and knew this is it. This is the book end to this chapter of my life.

The first time I met him was in Taco Treat on a Saturday in early fall of 2007 ish. He came to my house to watch ‘Barnyard’ because my mom invited him over. I was completely embarrassed. But that started a friendship that I will never forget. He easily became my best friend and eventually became like a brother to me and my younger sister. I remember him beating up this girl who threatened to yank my braces off in the fourth grade. He was always getting in trouble either with me or for me.

One time we were out riding bikes, as we did 25/8 during the summer, and he got the metal pedal of his bike stuck in his leg. There was a huge gash gushing blood from his calf, but that didn’t bother either of us. He just got back on his bike and continued to ride for another hour or so.

When middle school started we began to drift apart, but somehow we always found a way back to each other, back to my kitchen table where my mom was cooking some kind of soup or pasta dish. Junior year we had a teacher who was convinced we would become the next ‘When Harry Met Sally’, but I don’t think that could ever happen. He’s my brother, he has been an odd kind of constant since we were only nine and 10.

Those moments on the stage, light blinding my tear-filled eyes, I felt at home. Being with my friend for almost nine years, ending the same chapter of our lives, was surreal. It broke my heart as I hugged him, said ‘I love you’ as I always do, and told him that dinner the next day was at 6:30.

I’m going to miss you, Garrett.