Happy Birthday Nick! |

Today is Nick’s, one of my best friends, birthday. He doesn’t live in Orlando so I do not get to spend time with him during his birthday. The one year when he was coming down here to celebrate, his flight was cancelled last minute. Literally, he was sitting at the airport and it was cancelled.

Nick and I have been friends for over 4 years. (Nick’s reminds me it is 4.5 years to be exact and the friend anniversary gift for 4.5 is a puppy.) How did we meet 4.5 years ago? Well let me tell you!

Nick loves Disney and visits Orlando often. He happened to be planning a trip down here and was in a local Orlando gay chat room. Of course, being a young single gay guy at the time, I was in the room as well and we chatted. He mentioned he would be down and I gave him my number and said text message me and we can hang out.

One random night, I happened to be driving to visit my friend who was living in Celebration at the time (a neighborhood right outside Disney) when Nick called me. He had just returned to his hotel after a day at the parks and he was waiting for a friend to join him. I mentioned I happened to be in the area and would drop by. I met Nick at his hotel where he decided he wanted to go swimming. Of course it was February so it was a lot warmer than NYC (where he lives) but not warm enough to swim in a non-heated outdoor pool.

Regardless, Nick jumped in while I sat by the side and talked. It wasn’t 3 minutes before he had enough and we headed to the snack shop at the hotel. I was amazed by the fact that if you buy a cup at the hotel, you can have free drinks the whole time including coke slushies! We sat for awhile talking and laughing about his day. I shared I never ride rides at Disney and he was shocked by this. He kept asking me about rides which I would reply, “No I don’t ride it.” He then mentioned Star Tours which I did ride. He asked me why I ride that one and I said, “Why not? All they do is put you in a box and shake you.” That phrase would become famous between us.

I walked Nick back to his hotel and off I went. We texted throughout his trip and he headed home. We continued to talk to each other through IM and now have been friends for 4.5 years. We bought matching Treos, and then matching iPhones. We both got Macbooks at the same time (He wants me to make sure you know his is a pro where mine is not).

I have never been to NYC to see him. (I know I am horrible. No I am really am) but I was so excited to see a video tour he made of his apartment. I also love our silly iChat video chats where I get to watch videos with him or celebrate him moving to the next tray in his invisalign. Even though we do not live in the same city, we are able to grow as friends.

Why we have stayed friends for all these years? I do not know Nick’s reasons but I know mine: