Today is the birthday of David Platt, my oldest, dearest friend in the world, and someone who had a huge impact on me at an important time in my life. When we met, I was a painfully shy, boringly average middle schooler. David was the opposite: smart, confident and vocal about his opinions on everything. And weirdly, he wanted to be my friend.
During those four years of high school, David was my bestie and an important role model for me. I went from average student to one of the smartest kids in all my classes. I stopped being the shy one at the back of the room. I spoke up during class, volunteered for stuff, got noticed.
I don’t know if any of that would have happened without David’s friendship and support during that formative time in my life. Not only did he like and appreciate me as I was, he saw things in me that I didn’t see in myself. I’ve strived to be that kind of friend to others in my life to this day.
And of course, David was trying to figure himself out also at that time. I like to think that I helped him discover the amazing human he turned out to be.
Happy birthday, Davey.