I Believe in Friendship

I believe in friendship, and the sweetness that comes from truly being known.  I seek relationships that provide the safest of havens to explore all questions, beliefs, expressions, dreams and fears.   And so begins my five day holiday with three friends I share a past, an understanding, and a profound love.  I met SJP and CB in first grade, we skipped across the asphalt during recess in our Catholic school uniforms, and celebrated birthdays with pin the tail on the donkey.  I recall meeting Al in junior high, but our bond didn't solidify until high school when we spent Saturday nights at KP parties drinking Michelob, or using fake IDs to gain entrance to the Royal Manor.  We visited each other at college, and had an annual champagne brunch/football game on Thanksgiving morning.  In our 20s, as we were breathing life into the dreams of who we were going to become, we were all on the Eastern seaboard, and for a couple of years even shared NYC as our home base.   On the eve of moving to LA, I held SJP in the middle of 26th Street and sobbed.  I knew distance wouldn't threaten our friendship, but with growth comes inevitable change.  Seeing them became a special occasion, a celebration, made easier by frequent business trips to NYC.  Several years ago, when Al was relocated to Europe, we became even more geographically splintered.  Factoring in children, relationships, and careers, being all together does not happen with ease anymore.  I'm incredibly grateful to have the next few days with them, suspended in time from our daily schedules, to reconnect and honor this thing called life.