Fri(end)s

I have several friends, most of whom are "casual" friends.  I have friends at work. I have a group of freshman boys that I mentor. I have some good friends that I stay in contact with from my high school and college days.  And I have a few good friends that I have known for a long, long time.  It's strange because my good friends are all very different, but I enjoy each of their different qualities and quirks.

Mrs. Luthe, my poli sci teacher in high school, made a comment one day that has stuck with me for over thirty years now.  She said, "The word friend ends with e.n.d.  All friendships end."  I thought she was on old cynical goofball at the time, but as time has passed, I realize that there is more truth to her statement than I could have ever realized.  There are so many friends that I have known only for a short time and then, for one reason or another, they are out of my life and move from the category of a friend to someone that is a past aquaintance.  I often wonder what old friends like Ralph Bristol and Steve Krull and John McCormick are doing.  I was never really good friends with these guys but grew up with them and then at age 18 they were gone.  All of us went in different directions and I have hardly ever, maybe never, talked to them again.

Then there are the friends that have been friends for a very long time, and seem to take our friendship for granted.  Some of them have made decisions and have shown, through their actions, that our friendship is based on what I can do for them.  So it makes it difficult when they pop back into my life and ask for favors. 

But, I think it is the right thing to do to put that individual's wants or needs before mine and show them what true friendship is.  I have been given the opportunity lately to let the past be the past and to just be a friend again.  And when I do the right thing, without exception, some of the "junk" just seems to fade away and old friendships are rekindled.

There are always two sides to a "story".  I am sure I have offended some of my old friends, most times without even knowing.  And I hope that some of them will let the past be the past so that we can rekindle our friendship again.