Phil was more than a friend to us. He referred to me as his "little sister", even though I was older than him. He could refer to Mike as his "brother from another mother", and proudly claim to be the uncle of our grown daughter Jennifer. When he lived here in Florida and he was home from being over seas, he was over at our house all the time seeing what project Mike was working on and giving his "advice" on how Mike should be doing it. Of course Mike would argue in a friendly way that "EMs" (his Navy rate) didn't know squat. You could tell they were both ex-submariners and shared that common bond, even though they never served on the same submarine.
We have a sign in our living room that Phil always loved. It states "Friends are the family one meets along the way". That explained our relationship. Full of fun. Full of love.