Wednesday, July 18, 2007

That's what friends are for...

In the post I wrote last week (yeah... I apologize... very lax of me... no proper discipline here... sorry) I included a tune by Bruce Cockburn that means a lot to me these days because the single thing that has gotten me through the hard times, down times, strange times of the last two years is a small group of friends who lie scattered all over the country. There are three (in New England, Colorado and Los Angeles) whom I have known for 25 - 30 years and who know me as well as anyone on the planet, and in some cases, better than I know myself.

One of those friends is visiting me this week from New England. We are trying to catch up on thoughts and feelings, hopes and dreams and we are discussing the possibility of doing some work together when we get to the end of this week of reconnection. It's a strange dynamic and I don't know at this point where it will go. What I do know, from just the few hours we've been together, is that, as always, Zach is as much a part of me as I am a part of myself.

There are a few other, more recent friends - in New Orleans, in Petaluma, in England - who have moved with me through my life and who put up with my bullshit like real troupers and who share their lives with me in a way that makes moving through life on the planet easier, more comfortable, and more endearing. These are people with whom I don't have the kind of history I have with my oldest friends, but they are people who I think, and hope, will be with me for the rest of this journey of my life.

The presence of Zach in my house and heart this week has me thinking, gratefully, about all of these people. I really don't think I would survive without y'all. I'm sure that I wouldn't want to.

You gotta have friends!