If life were a person, I would slap him or her. Hard. So let me back up. Friday night I went out to chat with some friends I hadn’t seen in a long time. My buddy is an awesome photographer and has worked on some pretty cool things out west and was in town. I’d put his link here except for the fact that he is super private, and I didn’t tell him I was writing this. Ha. Anyway, the night before I was talking about all my old friends and it occurred to me that most of them were guys. We were like Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch…and we rode our bikes around, well bicycles, but still. Later on, in high school, some had cars and perhaps one in particular was old enough to pass for 21 at the 7-11.
Everyone has that one friend, ha, who perhaps buys things like ohhh I don’t know, Boone’s Farm maybe. Not judging the 80′s or 90′s are you? No. Anyway, so we were sitting around telling stories and it was nice. It was nice to see how we can change, but remain the same at heart. I always knew they were good guys and so when I heard one of them was coming into town, I knew I couldn’t wait until the next time. A lot can happen through the years. As we got a round of beverages, we raised our pints to a friend who was no longer with us. We talked a bit about how we were still kind of mad at him for not reaching out (I actually wrote about this when it happened last year). We lost a good man to a fight he could have beat…depression was the enemy and if we had known, surely we could have changed the tide on that battlefield.
So this year my brother’s circle of friends have learned about that as well. Yesterday, my brother lost a friend to hopelessness and surely her friends are saying the same thing. It’s too fresh right now, but in a year her friends will probably still be mad. Her friends will be telling the stories of things they did. And her friends will look at each other and make the kind of eye contact that says, I’m glad you’re here friend to talk about this with me. Don’t hide how you feel when this happens. Get it out. Reach out to who is left behind. And don’t stop believing that your life is worth fighting for at all costs. Don’t end your chapter right as your luck was about to change. DON’T. Because your friends will be lifting a pint to you after all and saying how much they miss you. Instead of that, be there with them. Clinking the glass and saying I am so glad I have you all. I am glad I called you that day.