For the last eight years I have had the same best friend. We met at work and even at his initial interview we clicked instantly. Being quite a few years younger than me, eleven years in fact, I often wonder why we have so much in common, perhaps he is mature for his age, then again, perhaps it is me that is immature for my age. Whatever the reasoning, we love each other and have had that connection from the very beginning.

Best friends tend to go through alot together, there goes the same for me and my friend, fortunately there have been many good times and laughs compared to bad times and tears but nevertheless we have been through many weird and wonderful experiences.
At the time of our first meeting we were working in psychiatry, which was an ordeal in itself. Not a day went by without us laughing though, we were never inappropriate in laughing at the patients, a professional manner was adhered to at all times, but once we left that building, we knew how to let our hair down.

If there was a party we were there, if there was a night out organised we were the organisers and if there was an opening of an envelope, we would attend. We loved each others’ company and we attracted other people like a venus flytrap attracted the insects. My best friend is also everyone else’s best friend, that is why I love him. He is sensitive, kind hearted, funny and considerate.

I have always been known for my infamous Halloween parties and I love any excuse to dress up, my best friend is no different. We have laughed until it hurt at some of the costumes we have created; one of the party’s themes was ‘Famous Dead People’ and my best friend decided to dress up as William Braveheart. Unfortunately, he forgot to paint his face with the cross of Scotland, thus everyone presumed he was Captain Caveman – hilarious!

Another time he attempted to re-create Sid Vicious from the Sex Pistols; instead of going to a fancy dress shop like any other person to buy a mohican wig, my best friend decided to customize his hair and went into his garden, cut down some pampas grass and stick it to his head using double sided sticky tape. The next morning when he tried to remove it was like listening to a wailing banshee, the tape was literally glued to his scalp; there followed a trip to the emergency hospital where they had to soak his head in solution to dilute the glue.

These are but a few of the riotous and entertaining stories I could relate but there is no better comedic moment than when I made a startling discovery about my best friend. Having thought I knew my best friend inside out, it came as quite a shock to learn something about him, something I had perhaps suspected, but had never actually had confirmed.

It was St Patrick’s Day 2007 and as usual we had been on a night out. St Patrick’s is a big event but we never needed an excuse for a night on the tiles. Having met up with some friends, the night of drinking and cavorting began. My best friend had started dating someone and I had asked if they would be joining us. I was informed that they were possibly joining us and he wrote down a telephone number for me to keep in case his phone got lost (which was common), or his battery died. On the paper he wrote ‘Danielle’ followed by her telephone number, I made a joke that I would phone the number and ask her to come and meet us. My best friend did not seem to react to this but, it was only a joke.

Throughout the night, nothing untoward happened but as usual my best friend got lost from us. No-one worried as this was a regular occurrence and we assumed he had met up with his girlfriend and she had not wanted to meet us.

My friends and I found a party and ended the festivities singing and dancing to some irish band. When it was time to leave the party, some of my friends went into town to a late night bar and my friend and I returned home. At the time I was living with my best friend and his mother. I never had to worry about waking them up in the early hours as the door was always unlocked. We had a very large Alsatian dog who’s bite was indeed worse than his bark so we never worried about the safety of the house.

At around 4am I stumbled through the door and up to my room. I possibly attempted to make some food on my way but hearing the call of my bed, I was more interested in sleeping. The very strange thing was, I decided to go on a detour. Having lived with my best friend for 12 months I had always respected his privacy; this applied even when I didn’t live with him. I always knocked on his bedroom door and would never have entered if he didn’t ask me to.

However on this particular night it was almost like fate had told me to disregard my manners. As I opened the door I expected to find him asleep, or better still, not there at all. However, he was there, he was not asleep and he was not alone. He was with another guy!

I immediately apologized and closed the door. For one second I wanted to re-open the door to see if I was wrong but I retreated from the door and went back into my room; I sat on my bed and huddled my knees into my chin. Suddenly I heard footsteps; my best friend’s door opened and he appeared at my open door. I looked up and burst out laughing.

Initially, my best friend would not look at me, “Oh please don’t not look at me, that’s the worst thing you could do.”

Thankfully he did look at me. He looked ashamed. There was no need. He apologized. I wanted to cry. “There’s absolutely no need to apologize, I should be the one saying sorry and you know what, it doesn’t matter, I love you no matter what”. My best friend’s eyes filled up and leaked a little bit. We both hugged and then laughed; we cried and then laughed some more. We both seemed to forget that there was a guy in his bedroom wondering what the hell was going on.