Band of Brothers

              I struggle to recall at what point I met Tyler, but it must have been sometime after first grade. There were other neighborhood children I tried to befriend, but I recall most of these friendships being arranged by my grandparents through the local ward (that’s a church for those not in the know).  I may have played He-man, Go-bots, Transformers or Star Wars with these acquaintances, but as soon as another neighborhood child entered in the play time, I was quickly the butt of the joke. But with Tyler and his family, I felt more accepted.

                Perhaps it was due to him being one of the few non-Mormon kids in the neighborhood, but we seemed to click fairly quickly. Our shared social deformities brought kinship, either through hours of play focused on Construx building sets, GI Joe adventures or our obsession with monsters of all kinds. We created entire worlds we played in using snippets of Captain Power, Greek mythology and the Monster Manual from his older brother’s Advanced Dungeon and Dragons Books. While we didn't always get along, I placed him among one of my best friends.

                I was better suited to weather the onslaught of criticism, teasing and loneliness with him on my side. We fought neighborhood bullies together, mocked the popular kids, and haphazardly damaged his parent’s home during sleepovers. His older brother introduced us to role-playing at the ages of eight and seven. Soon we were telling elaborate back stories of our characters, either through repeated play-throughs of Castlevania or sketched murals on sheets of butcher paper.

                Unfortunately, I still struggled with any sense of rejection. Sometimes I would storm home due to feeling taunted regardless of reality. I would vow to never spend time with him if I felt I was competing for his attention with other neighborhood kids.

In other words, I was a jealous, whiny little bitch.

Due to the year difference in our ages, I eventually reached out and began to befriend another boy. Taylor was also a social outcast of sorts. Initially, I had vowed to fight him after an altercation during a basketball game. After some cooling off, I realized I had been the instigator and the bully in the situation and apologized when he arrived to defend his honor after school. In a show of humility, I apologized and asked if he would rather hang out at a later time. He agreed and thirty years later, he remains my closet friend.

Through our shared interest in video games, role playing games and our jealousy of the popular kids, Taylor, Tyler and I banded together.  These friends were my brothers and through them, other brothers joined my family. Had I not found these two, I fear how I would have turned out with my intense feelings of rejection and anger. Whether they are aware of it or not, these men saved not just my sanity but likely my life.