I’m Thankful for Friends...
I'm thankful for friends, the opportunity to ask them for help, and the chance to respond to their requests. That's what we're here for, the rest is gravy. I’d never like to promote FB any more than it does itself, but that’s my post from moments ago. The blurry photo shows the beautiful hands of S, from Feb 08. (Note to both readers and self: must write about the serendipity of rediscovering old photos.) I’ve said many times that my life is better with S in it, even distantly, and I’ve meant it every time. There are many friends I relish the chance to help, but she’s in the category of “Last Call.” That is, I’d like to see myself as her last phone call in any situation. She has a support network of her own, a circle of friends, a new beau. But when all hell breaks loose, or just the damned tire goes flat at the wrong time, the call she knows will be answered would be to me. It happened before, in small ways, and once in a very large way documented in earlier posts, but who knows what the future holds. I would end my days saddened if I do so without another chance to rise to that occasion. But that’s just one friend, albeit a special one. It is not merely for friends that I give thanks this week, it is for the chance to call on them and be called upon. To cheer, and hug and celebrate. To hold their hand while they lay dying, and to comfort the mourning. The reason we’re here—I’ve been through many cycles of this, even a religious phase—is that last. The last, greatest task we can perform for another. We’re here to help move furniture. We’re here to loan money, tools, food, and smiles. We’re here to whip our friends and family into aiding their friends and family. We’re here to do all this, not because it’s effortless, but because the effort costs us nothing. In the doing, we are enriched. In the receipt, we are not indebted. In the friendship, we are all aggrandized, made holy by the act of asking, and the act of responding. I am thankful for my friends, but mostly, I’m thankful for the chance to do something for them.