7. Corey

Most of my memories of her are hazy. We were friends when I was around 6-7 years old. She was the first person I desperately wanted to like me, and I'm not sure why. Something about her. Corey had a strange bowl haircut that must of been popular at the time, and was my friend really only occasionally. She taught me rejection, ridicule and humiliation. The harder I tried to get her to like me, the more she and the 'cool' kids would exclude me.

But from that, I realise now that is more important to be just who you are than to be popular.

6. Cliff

Cliff has been by best friend since we were in grade 6. We dated briefly in grade 9, fell out of touch in grades 10-11, and then reunited in grade 12. He lives a million miles away now, it seems, but he's one of the few people that I can pick up where we left off with without a problem. Cliff is the sort of creative genius you never hear about. He could have done anything he wanted to with his life, but instead he chose to take a very different path: he rejected the universal 'truth' that people like him are supposed to sacrifice their personal goals for the good of the world. He isn't going to win a Nobel Peace Prize, he isn't going to cure cancer, and he certainly isn't going to invent something to change the world.

He's going to live his life as well as he can. And that is good enough.

5. Uncle Paul

He died when I was 8. Getting the phone call is still one of the most vivid memories I think I will ever have. It was the middle of the night ...I'm not sure who called, but I remember my mother telling me, and me breaking down and just yelling that it couldn't be true. My father was devastated, but I think it's my brother that still hasn't gotten over it.

He used to ride motorcycles, and the last thing I remember him giving me was my very own fish tank. He collected siamese fighting fish and had one of those separated tanks for them. I still don't enjoy being tickled because it reminds me of him.

4. Aunt Nancy

My Aunt Nancy is a trendsetter. I remember her listening to music that, two weeks later, would become the most popular music around. When I was little, she used to remind me of Whitney Houston: The glamour, the excitement ...the big hair. We used to live in the same room. Now I'm lucky if I see her once a year. She never got to really utilise her potential, and that depresses me to no end. She could have been a rockstar. Now she's a soccer mom.

3. Bennett

Some wise men say that it is through pain that we learn truth. If so, then Bennett taught me more than anyone else I've ever known. In this case, there is little to say beyond this: He's the one who taught me that no matter what the storybooks say and what we've been taught to believe: love does not conquer all.

I still talk to him, though.

2. Brandy

Brandy was a cheerleader. We used to dance to Motley Crue and Poison songs in her basement. She taught me how to put on lipstick and together we learned how to kiss boys. I can't even remember what she looks like, apart from her gold-blonde hair, and that I always envied her. I remember how we used to pretend that her dad owned the Gillette corporation.

1. Kenneth

He lived around the corner from me. The teenage girl my mom would get to chaperone us used to encourage us to play Truth or Dare - it was how I received my first kiss. We would walk up into the backwoods for hours, picking wild strawberries and listening to music on his boombox. When he moved away, it was one of the saddest days of my life. A few years after, he called me randomly to let me know he was in town and that he wanted to see me. I never got to. I still can't listen to the REM song what's the frequency, Kenneth? without thinking about him.