Twenty-five years ago today, though I was unaware of it (and probably most things) at the time, a good portion of my life was set in stone. This twist of fate, one may even go so far as to call it destiny, came in the form of Brad McGinn making his way into this world.
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When we were kids, Brad and I were often mistaken for
brothers; to this day, that hasn't changed. |
I met Brad for the first time in Kindergarten; he was, if I remember correctly, a good couple notches more hyperactive than I was. Making friends at such an early age usually involves little social vetting, and the resulting friendships almost inevitably dissolve sometime between the next day and high school graduation. Brad and I, in spite of a brief falling out in the sixth grade, were almost inseparable through more or less all of grade school. By the end of eighth grade, however, the friendship had seemed to have run its course.
Brad and I spent the majority of our high school years with different friends, doing different things. I hung out with anime geeks, skated, and started listening to punk rock, and he hung out with goth kids, got into running, and started listening to metal. Come senior year we had but one common friend, and through said friend he and I reconnected.
Also, I found out that Brad had just started skateboarding.
I often like to recount the first time we skated together. I invited Brad out to my subdivision, to skate a modular park that set up in the parking lot of the local soccer fields. All told, not much skating happened, because about twenty minutes into the session, Brad's brand new ten gig iPod fell and broke*.
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| Even our trick selection seems related: twin streetplants, 2009. |
To this day, I truly cannot think of what my skateboarding would have been like were it not for that day back in 2004, or for that matter, this very day back in 1986. Since then, Brad and I have learned tricks from and with one another, skated contests and demos together, released parts for the same videos, and even wound up skating for the same board sponsor. We've watched each other progress and mature, not only as skaters, but as people in general: I watched him learn inverts and frontside grinds, and at the same time I watched him meet the love of his life, and was one of the first people to see her engagement ring, even before she did. I visited him when he broke his leg, and he did the same for me. The stories I have are nearly unending, but for the sake of relative brevity I'll leave them at that. Though we now live far enough apart and have enough responsibilities that we don't skate together all the time, and very rarely for an entire day, when we do get together we have just as much fun as we did back in high school, learning bertlemanns on our local pyramid and then going to Taco Bell and ordering drive-thru with fake Scottish accents.
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I may have learned frontside airs first, but Brad's got 'em
better than I probably ever will. |
Brad has told me from time to time that he's not sure if he'd still be skating if we weren't such good friends. While I hate to entertain the notion for either of us, I wonder if I could say the same. Thankfully, I need not worry about the notion, as the litany of e-mails and text messages between the two of us contemplating trick ideas only serves as a confirmation of the fact that he and I are in this for life.
So happy birthday, Brad. You are, among other things, a great skater, a stand-up guy, and very possibly the best friend I could ask for. Enjoy your day, and I'll see you at the party this weekend.
*Editor's note: Don't worry about the iPod: Brad got the extended warranty, and got it replaced the next day.
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