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About Brain Injury

My Closest Friend
by Mike Strand

I used to have a close friend, but then he had a nasty accident. He was not always my best friend; he did not always act in my best interest, but it was not humanly possible for two friends to be closer. He was better than me in almost everything. He was faster, smarter, stronger, and more popular. I always wanted to be just like him and I was always angry and frustrated when I came up short.

Then one day I decided I could never be like him because he and I were two different people. We looked a lot alike. We even had the same name. Everyone would encourage me to be just like him because they didn't want to acknowledge that he was gone. Finally, I decided enough was enough, I wasn't him. Trying to be him meant not being true to myself and it was cutting myself short. I had different roads to travel. I had seen things he had never got to, things that made me a better person.

That's when I started thinking about him/me before my/his accident in the third person. He stopped being in that accident and I came to be. I needed to do this to separate my two identities, who I was and who I am. People rarely change that dramatically in an instant so this is a rare measure to take, but its one I need for my sanity. I don't even tell anyone I do this. It is my secret. When people tell me I'm just like my friend I just smile to myself and thank them for the compliment. I would like to meet him/me again now that I have experienced and learned so much. I know that he/I would like whom I've become.

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