This is the first in this wave of posts. I thought I should add a little preface to it. Tonight I was watching Runkel dance with Daisy, and I thought I would write the first of my life lesson stories. I am not telling the person that I am writing this, and probably have not told the person that I feel this or their attachment to me, so it might be awkward for some. I hope it is not, for I have learned something from each person on this list, and they have given me so much more than I could ever give them. I hope they all take it for what it is.
I have to start someplace, and I thought I would start with Abe. I was just having this discussion on our podcast, and it brought up this story, and as such, it is fresh in my head.
I have not known Abe for very long, a few years, maybe a few more than that. But in that time I have sort of come to truly appreciate his self confidence, and his stability in the tough moments.
We all know I am an emotional wreck, a sort of swinging ball of who knows what juice flying from tree top to tree top. Often times falling to the ground, weeping in passionate repose. Gone to the things of civility and ability. Just a puddle. That is my life.
A bit ago I went to see Godspell. Abe directed Godspell. It was not a packed house, and I sat in the back of the house with a great seat, and a place to put my sandaled feet up. The show moved me to tears, just lifted and pushed my heart and soul higher than it had been in a long time. I rose up on wings of song, and pride in seeing my friend Andy sing with joy and all the rest of it. I was a dewey petal of joy by intermission.
During intermission Abe came and sat with me and we talked, and I had to look like a wrecked pop star by that point. Just a ball of emotional goo. I blathered on and on about love and joy and my soul, and Abe just sat there. And never once questioned any of it. He just sat with me.
It was cool to be in that moment, and to be okay. Some people would use that sort of emotional swelling to be cynical, or run away. Abe did not. He just sat there with me, and emotionally laid his hand on my shoulder.
I learned in that moment from Abe that sometimes you just have to sit there with your friends, and let them be. And sometimes you have to be the one who is allowed to wallow and swell a little bit. We cannot always be this great controlled steam boat pilot, sometimes we are all a 15 year old boy on the phone with Auralee Likes talking about Duran Duran for hours and hours. Sometimes our passions are inflamed, and sometimes our friends are there for it. If we are lucky we have friends that are there for us, and if we are truly blessed we will get a chance to be with out friends like that.
I learned that the dewey petal is not a scary one, and that I should trust my friends to be my friends. A guy like Abe, who I have not known for long, nor very intimately showed me that friendship is a blessing, and costs us nothing.
The moment is a blessing.