You’re My Best Friend, Chris Brogan

While driving home from work yesterday I heard Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend” on the radio and it reminded me of the same story it always reminds me of.

In 2nd grade, my best friend Andy Willrath moved away. My new best friend became Chris Brogan, fellow Yukon, Oklahoma Myers Elementary student and fellow fan of all things geeky. Both of us were interested in UFOs, Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Chris owned a 24″ Godzilla and I owned several of the 24″ Shogun Warriors — the two of us spent many hours setting up battles and so forth with those guys. I remember one time we decided to make a fake UFO video with my parents’ video camera. We used a blue blanket for a sky-like backdrop and a cut out in the shape of a UFO that we placed in front of a flashlight. The end result wasn’t very impressive, but you have to give us credit for trying.

As with toys, Chris and I also had similar tastes in women. Both of us had crushes on Brandi Salsman, the hottest girl in 2nd grade. Brandi and I “went together” for about fifteen minutes that year before Chris wooed her away from me by taking her on a date. Yes, a real date. Chris took Brandi out to eat at a restaurant in 2nd grade. There was no way I could compete with that. Chris got the girl, and I was reduced to riding my bicycle around our neighborhood (Brandi lived just a few blocks from me) and pretending to have chain problems right in front of her house — the idea being, I could stand in front of her house for several minutes pretending to work on my bike in hopes of catching a glimpse of her through a window. Embarassing, but true. If Brandi was forced to choose between a kid who took her out on dates and a kid who pretended to work on his bike with pretend tools on a daily basis, I have to say she made the right decision. Surprisingly through all of this, Chris and I remained the best of friends.

Chris and I visited each other’s houses often and remained friends the following year in Mrs. Estrada’s third grade class. Near the end of the school year, Chris announced that his family would be moving away. I can’t remember where they were moving to, but I remember I was heart-broken. On the last day of school we had a going-away party for him. That day, I brought a copy of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” on 45 to school. The B-side of that single was a song called, “You’re My Best Friend.”

I wanted to give Chris a huge send off. During lunch I envisioned myself hopping up on the stage in the cafeteria and lip-synching to “You’re My Best Friend” with the entire student body cheering. This of course never happened. I kept the record tucked away in my bag the entire day. Before going home we had a small going-away party for Chris. Someone’s mom (maybe mine, I don’t remember) brought cupcakes and we had a little party. I asked Mrs. Estrada if I could play my record during the party and she said yes. It was my own little send off to a good friend. Looking back it probably seemed a little strange to Mrs. Estrada that I would dedicate what is probably a gay love song from Freddy Mercury to a fellow classmate, but whatever. I don’t think I had any concept of that in third grade. I suspect today’s third graders would be less forgiving.

And so, that was it. After the party Chris got on his school bus and I got on mine and we went our separate ways. I’m sure there were promises of keeping in touch but they never happened. I have no idea where he went and I never saw or heard from Chris again. That summer, the Willraths moved back to Oklahoma and things changed back to normal. Andy returned to being my best friend, and Chris Brogan was quickly forgotten, only to be remembered from time to time when that song comes through the radio.