Is it normal to genuinely love your former teacher?

In middle school, I was picked on a lot. I was depressed, wasn’t cool, and I was this weird mix of awkward, outgoing, and absurdly annoying. Everybody openly disliked me, except for my teacher of two years who I will call Mr. L. Mr L was tall, outgoing, and unfairly good looking. He was also new to teaching, and I took an immediate liking to him. We shared similar interests, and although our personalities were different at the time, we got along super well. Sometimes I would meet up with him to chat about the newest Adventure Time episode, or sometimes he’ll catch me in the halls and we would geek out over the latest RPG. He was also a great teacher in general, and he made English (the topic he teaches) very appealing and interesting. Eighth grade rolled around, and I, as a hormonal 14 year old girl, inevitably developed a crush on him. Despite all of my efforts to try and make my crush known, he (thankfully!) ignored and laughed off all of my awkward “advances”. I would help out around the classroom just to try and drag out our conversations as long as possible, and I would say and do things that I knew he would find to be absolutely hilarious.
The casual conversations continued on for the majority of that year, up until my clinical depression got the best of me and I attempted suicide in the May of 2012. Much to my surprise, he visited me in the hospital on the Saturday after my attempt. We both started crying, and he told me that he went through it too and how things are going to get better. His visit only lasted for around ten minutes, but it meant the world to me at the time and it still does 6 years later. Summer rolls around, and I’m off to high school (9th grade). I would run into him often in and out of school, and we would talk about anything and everything. This continued all throughout high school, and during my first year of college I invited him and his husband (who is a super cool guy by the way) to come with me and my friends to a Beyoncé concert. It was amazing, we all had a great time. I’m currently in my third year of college, and we are still very close. I see him now as the brother I wish I had. He has told me that he sees me as a sister. A lot of my longtime friends say that it’s strange, and I’m trying my best to not let what they say get to me. Is it normal for me to be THIS close to my former teacher and now good friend, even though there is an eleven year age difference? Normal or not, It won’t affect anything. However, I am a bit curious.