You sample concepts like hors d'œuvres and you eat their questions for dessert

I'm not sure if it's the recent rainy days or just that I feel myself creeping into recluse mode, but I have been missing my dear friend Eddie more than ever lately.

In the "how we know each other section" on Facebook, he wrote:

Dated from 1992 to 1999 and were practically married.
Met randomly: We spent like every waking hour together or on the phone with one another for like 7 years. Ok, we didn't really date, but we were practically married.

Eddie has been my best friend since we were little kids. Over the years, we have spent copious amounts of time talking; be it in person, on the telephone or in regular long winded e-mails. We became friends at first sight back in grade three and have been thick as thieves ever since. I should be used to missing him, and I suppose I am; but there are definitely days I wish more than anything that he was here to walk to the coffee shop and talk for hours over cups of tea with or to come over for a movie marathon and watch the series Trois Couleurs: Bleu, Blanc et Rouge a million times in a row with. We haven't lived in the same city since we were 17. You see, Eddie is a genius. At the end of grade 11, he received a full scholarship to the prestigious Eton College in London, England for our final year of secondary school. That was the end of watching Dawson's Creek and reading YM Magazine together on school nights. Off he went to rub elbows with Prince William and have an utterly amazing educational experience. Next, he spent four years doing his degree in History, International Relations and French at the University of Toronto. He is currently a grad student in History and International Law at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. After spending some time living there, he has now taken up residence in an adorable flat in Paris, France where he is doing research for his dissertation, shopping on the Champs-Elysées, and drinking lots of good wine. Eddie has done stints of world travelling in between and seen a large majority of the globe, but he has always made a point of coming home to visit as often as possible.

As we've grown up and become (gasp) adults, we have created lives for ourselves in different places. Still, he feels like home to me and quite possibly knows me better than I know myself.

One of my favourite quotes is: "The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart." That line really sums up our friendship. No matter how much time or distance separates us, whether it's a block or an ocean, five minutes or six months, when we come together or chat on the phone, we pick up right where we left off every single time. Eddie "gets" me like nobody else on the planet. I cherish his role and friendship in my life so deeply. There is no better feeling in the universe than knowing that somebody loves, accepts and supports you unconditionally.

On days like today, when I slide on my rubber boots and do up my rain coat, I can't help but get nostalgic for my best bud who I have spent so many rainy days with. I am so looking forward to seeing his smiling face in person at Christmas time this year! (which, as we all know, is just around the corner...right Keira?)

Photos courtesy of Eddie Kolla