Friends

I write a lot about my friends. I have a lot of friends to write about. I am very blessed. I try to tell them how wonderful they are. How they inspire me. Why I am a better person because of them. I try to do the same for them.

However, sometimes I know the car turns down selfish rd and there you are listening to how amazing the Y’s are or what cool thing they are doing now, and how I am looking for child care, again. And that is when I pull in the driveway, or the parking lot, or the parking deck and I have to go. And yet, you listen because you love me and you love them too. Not once did we talk about you, and how amazing you are or what cool thing you are doing now. But you answer the phone the next time I call and sometimes you even call me (hoping that I won’t be surrounded by screaming y’s, or about to park the car, or heading to my desk.). You must still know that I would drop everything for you?! I won’t even start on how everyone always comes to see me, yet, I haven’t made a single trip!

Yesterday, my friends attended a funeral. A LOT of friends. 1 funeral. I knew him. He lived in my neighborhood growing up. One sister was in my class. He still lived at the beach and apparently still saw or hung out with these friends. Everyone was so sad. Everyone hurt. Everyone was asking “Why”. This was the second funeral in two months. Neither boy was sick. Neither family was expecting this. They were living their life, doing their thing. Even though we weren’t “friends” anymore, my heart ached. I was sad. Sad for my friends. Sad for his sisters. Sad for his parents. And my stomach would flip when I thought about the two sons that he left here.

And because they are boys, I wondered, did any of their friends tell them how much they meant to them? Do guys do that? Do guys send text messages saying “Hey man, saw Dirty Dancing (ok, maybe not Dirty Dancing) on TV today and thought of you. Remember the first time we saw that?!” “Hey dude, just got back from surfing some killer waves, wish you lived closer.” Is this something we can teach them? Is it possible this is a nature vs nurture thing?

So send someone a note, a text, an email, a voicemail and tell them you love them. Because tomorrow you may not get to.