This episode, The Dirt Bag Diaries, is brought to you by Patagonia, makers of high-quality clothing and gear for outdoor sports,

world travel, and daily lives within harmony with nature.

Visit them on the web at Patagonia.com

From a distance, John Bombard appeared to be a very serious 17-year-old woman.

He walked the halls of our high school, wearing a scale and carrying 40 pounds of textbooks.

He was a gifted student and athlete, but he was never a teacher's pattern that coaches chosen one.

He didn't know you, he wasn't going to say anything to you.

But if you were lucky enough to have been one of Bombard's friends, you were certain of a couple of things.

First, underneath that stern demeanor, it was one of the goofiest, funniest, unique people you could ever meet.

Second, when it came to his family and friends, his loyalty was unflinching.

It was like gravity, absolute like a law of nature.

We went to smart kid boarding school.

It was the kind of place where they made his dress like we were headed for Wall Street.

We went to school on Saturdays.

The rulebook was at least 200 pages thick, and stress relief came in a single form, laughter.

I'm still not totally sure how Bombard and I became friends.

Certainly we were pretty different.

He had a reputation for mulling people in the hockey ring, and wanted to follow his father's path and the armed services.

I collected rare bootleg concert tapes and preferred cross-country skiing to Saturday afternoon in the hockey warship.

But somehow, Bombard and I became friends.

We were part of a small group of about 10 guys.

Some of us could have hung out with the jocks, others could have been nerds or stoners.

...