[T4Texas]

Most of my closest best friends have been gay men as opposed to women. My very best friend was a gay man that I went to high school with. We came out to each other in our senior year and that cemented a friendship that would last for years. We both went through a lot of hard times and even though I moved a few states away, we kept in touch and when he started working as a long distance truck driver, he would occasionally make it to Houston and we would spend some time together. He became ill in 1996 with an aids-related cancer and when things got bad, I drove to Florida and sat with him at the hospital for three days before he passed away. He knew I was there because he smiled real big when I came into the room, but he spent most of the time drugged up so there was no time to catch up or to say those things you want to say to a person at such times. I just sat with him and talked to him for those three days, feeling that he heard every word. I told him how much I loved him and recounted some of our adventures and promised him I wouldnt leave him. The sad thing was that his own mother lived less than 50 miles from the hospital and she wouldnt even come to see him. I keep his picture in my bedroom and I will never forget him. He was my very best friend.
My current best friend is a woman I have known for about 30 years now. We dated for about a year at one time and then later I was there with her through her numerous relationships and all the ups and downs that go with them. We met in the early 80s at a Christmas party of a mutual friend and that night she came to sit by me and we started talking and talking to the point that her GF was giving me the evil eye across the room. *laughs*. It was like an instant connection and after all these years, the connection is still there and we can both make each other laugh like crazy or be deadly serious. She's a great person and I'm glad to have her in my life.