Monday, February 8, 2016

Calling All Friends

To the friends I don't talk to everyday:  I think about you often.  I think about your daughters and sons and grandchildren (yikes!).  I think about graduation and baseball and dance and your health, and the divorce you went through and your new love.

I think about you in Texas and Georgia and California and Michigan, and even here in good old Wisconsin.  And I think about the friends I've lost touch with in Colorado and Illinois and even here at home.

Don't ever think a lack of communication means you don't cross my mind, or that I forget the good times we've had.  I remember laughing at the same jokes, strategizing against horrible bosses, and bonding over cafeteria pizza.  I remember working in the bookstore for DECA and watching Mr. Merkel throw a book at a classmate when he fell asleep in class.

I think about having you as a neighbor, before we were friends, and the drama that ended our friendship.  I also remember getting over the drama.

We talk the same talk and deal with stuff the same way.  We are passionate about the same things and wouldn't hesitate to smack each other's kids if they were doing something wrong.

I think how our friendship started because of our kids being together in grade school, middle school, high school and even when they dated, and broke up, only to find the love of their life.

I remember parties in barns, and putting together presentations well after everyone else was drunk.  I remember crawling on our hands and knees through a haunted woods, and watching the first of what seems like a thousand football games.

I think about friends from high school that weren't really friends, more of acquaintances, but now truly are friends.

I remember playing hooky from work so we could see our boys play baseball at 9 am, and I remember countless trips back and forth from field to field while we cheered both our kids on.

I remember thinking you hated me.

I know I may not be the best friend.  Sometimes I forget to call, or text you on the wrong day for your birthday.  Or sometimes when we call just to say hi, I dump the weight of the world on your shoulders, and you listen intently and are ready to go to battle.

I promise I'll always be your friend, and am here to be a sounding board or the one armed with a bat.  Just remember I am not perfect, and I'll do the same.  And don't forget to always tag me in the most ridiculous posts because all too often I need to laugh in middle of a meeting and have my coworkers think I'm nuts.


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