Friday, February 20, 2009

cheers mate

I have always been both impressed and disappointed in a person’s free will. We really have the ability in this country to be anyone that we want. You can create your own identity, blend with a group, or mimic that of someone you admire. Individuality is the spirit of the human soul. Sure, we might all shop at the same haunts. We might buy identical items. We might even go to this one spot to get a burger along with about 100 billion other people do each day. The thing that truly makes an individual special is their mind. I am always impressed when people tell me exactly what they’re thinking. Just their thoughts on life, art, music, and the current events of the evening.

I love to listen to people talk about their lives. Some people love life so much it runs into the color of your own life. We have so many social mediums to use these days. Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, phones, cell, texting. I mean, we all seem to want to show people our lives and want them to be a part of every scene. I relish that. I enjoyed it a lot last week when my friend D made it a point to not just settle for what he was doing that night. He had said he was going to come down to my part of town, but well, things changed. D has a daughter so I give him so much more lee-way because I really respect him as a father because I am not there yet. To be the person he is and live the way he does, he really has no time to himself and his thoughts. As where I, well, maybe I do have time on my hands even if I don’t wear a watch. So D said he was coming down and had to wait for a babysitter or something like that. I was in the city, so I took the train back into my neighborhood, stopped at home for a second, and then met him and his new ladyfriend down at a place called Tonic. Just some drinks and some good chat. But see, this is where the human part comes in. You know how you know people enjoy your company? Simple. They smile when they greet you and most likely give you a hug. D is a good friend and we’ve shared a number of good times together. But he never shirks his extroverted greeting to his friends. And when I enter the place and see my buddy D, we own it. We’re loud. We’re obnoxious. We’re even white trash. I often refer to my real close friends that I came up with as. I mean, we’re all lower than some socioeconomic class above us right? Lower-lower, middle-lower, upper-lower, lower-middle, middle-middle, upper-middle…you see where I’m going. So we greet, share a brief man-bear-hug and just say, “what’s up?” As is customary with D, I get the, “Yo B, this is insert first name here. Isn’t she a great girl?” Yeah D, she’s diamonds man. And with that we enjoy some laughs, some drinks, some stories, and the occasional “hun, how ya doing? Can I make you breakfast tomorrow morning?” We are always joking. On this nite, D’s company fit in very nicely. I think she was shocked by D’s comments and the fact that I could care less what I was wearing much less saying that night. It was all good.

I left D and his ladyfriend when they went to drive home. Ended up being that battery was dead and the car wouldn’t start. I consider this a very clear sign that D was not meant to drive home that night and I’m happy he didn’t. I’ve lost enough in life, but losing friends is not something I am ready to deal with in this part of my life.

All I can say is that I hope everyone gets to enjoy friendships like the one above. So much time is lost on trivial things these days that I don’t think we get enough time with our friends. I wish nites like last weekend would last forever, but the bar does have to close and we all have to go home.

In the next few weeks and months, take a few minutes and stop and look around when you’re out with friends. Notice the colors of the walls, the looks on people’s faces, the taste of the air and the smells around you. Listen to the lyrics in the music a little closer. Talk to that girl or guy a little bit longer. Find out one more thing about them that they just want to tell you.

I’ve been lucky with friends. Most of them have always supported me and been there when I need them most. I am so very thankful for that. Enjoy your friends. Enjoy life.

"We live for the nights we'll never remember with the people we'll never forget." – Daryll Slaughter

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