Lets talk about friends...well, a couple of them

This weekend has been spent mostly in thought and as an observer. It’s been nice. I spend so much of my life as an active participant, even when observing, that a weekend like this was perfect. Much of it was spent thinking about my friends. Who are these people? Why is it that I am so lucky that they have been continuous players in my life and not just characters that play a part and are off. Trust me, there are many of those people, but a significant amount of them have come and stayed planted. Of course, I don’t see them or talk to them as often as I wish I could, but they are there and are felt. I can be candid with this because it is truth. When it comes to friends, I have been blessed: Seriously blessed.

This next weekend is another one of my closest friend’s weddings. This is the catalyst for this thought process in this time of observation. Not only have I been lucky to have him in my life for so long, but he’s been like my brother. He is the closest thing to a brother that I have besides my own brother, whom I cherish and love with my whole heart. This wedding though will be bringing together a group of people who I met twelve years ago and spent an amazing week in The Dominican Republic with January of 2000. One of these people though, has been extremely special to me since the day we met, and I am confident she feels the same. This brings me to the first major point of the weekends saturated observing. Some people are meant to be in your lives and if you didn’t meet when you did, you would have met at some later point!

I find this to be exactly true about Jen G. I was a freshman in the dorms at UW Eau Claire and my roommates and I decided to have a party. Well, of course it got busted and with all of the under aged drinking happening, tickets were being passed out like candy at Halloween. When one gets a drinking ticket in the dorm, one must take a class taught by the hall director. My class was full of the under agers who happened to be in my room that night. One of them was Jen G. and we began our friendship. We were fast friends and that winter break, I found myself in her home town meeting her family and friends; one of them being Joe, who’s wedding is next weekend. Well, we have been friends ever since and it’s as most great friendships, that if we don’t talk in a while, it doesn’t mean we’re not friends, it just means that we’re busy and life is happening. Now, fast forward 7 years after I had left UW Eau Claire.

I’m on the square in Madison, WI, at the farmer’s market, shopping with Alyssa. I find flowers for my mother, purchase them and move on with my morning around the square. In the middle of talking about my preparation to move back to Los Angeles, I get a poke on the shoulder. Not because someone saw me who knew me, but because they wanted the exact flowers that I bought and had been following me to possibly get them off of me.

As I turn around to see who it is, I realize that the face is familiar: It’s Jen G. This is proof that she was suppose to come into my life; If not in college, then here, on a Saturday morning, at the farmer’s market in Madison, WI. Life is so funny and we just forget sometimes that certain things were just meant to be. Jen was with her mother and grandmother and we laughed so hard at the situation. She didn’t get the flowers from me by the way.

The other idea that popped up in my mind is that a new sustainable friend sometime has a relevance to the change that is happening in your life. That seems obvious, but it is fantastic to take interest in the correlation that the two have. This is to be said with my wonderful siren Lindsay. When we met, I had just moved to LA for the first time, and had no clue what or where I was going from there.

I got home from work one evening, after waiting tables for 8 long hours at The Cheesecake Factory, and walked into a small group of people on my roommate Ryan’s bedroom floor, organizing receipts. Ryan had just finished a film and he was working on getting everything tax related organized for when January came. I chatted for a second and then volunteered to assist on this somewhat teidies process. Lindsay was one of those people, and that is how we met. It was an insignificant night, performing an insignificant task, where I was attempting to mop up all the knowledge I could from these young industry savvy beings. That was an evening that got my wheels turning to open my eyes to what else I could accomplish and an evening where I met someone who would be my friend for a very long time. I find it so unique on how some of the most influential people in our life are introduced so generically.

Well, I’m going to go back to reading my new book. It is called “If I live to be 100” and the author is Neenah Ellis. I haven’t put it down other than twice. Once to buy it and drive home and the second was so I could write this entry. Have a wonderful Sunday night everyone.