best friendz

i've been richly blessed with friends in my life. from the earliest age, i remember my best friend jennifer bonilla, she moved away in fourth grade and i lamented her loss. her return, some two years later, found me strangely indifferent to her presence. we were never the kind of friends we were before she moved away. i come across her picture from time to time, i can't bring myself to throw it away. i have loved my friends, many of them now gone (not dead, just moved on in their lives) and even the memory of their friendship is sweet to me.

i am the one who moves away now and i understand i cannot cut ties with those i leave and expect to make it once transplanted into foreign soil. friends help keep me sane.

one friend i sat with yesterday, who drove all the way out to the country, took me to lunch, then a movie, then drove me home said, you're too important to me not to make time for us to get together.

i am humbled by such love. she is a tree in my life. i knew that long ago. but the words of her mouth echo the sentiment in my heart, and i am grateful for friends who love me in return.

when a friend attains best friend status in my life, they never lose it. i realized, after being transplanted from schools where my cousins and sister paved the way before, to an all white high school (of beverly hills 90210 fame--torrance high), that friends were indeed too precious to let something as minor as distance get in the way.

so just as a senator once retired is called mr. senator until he dies, so my friends who have left the office of bestfriendship in my life, remain my best friends until they choose to end the relationship.

my best friend from high school, jennifer is my oldest and dearest friend. we talk on occasion.

my best friend from after high school, anne, still keeps in touch calling to update me on her managerial corporate position and since she is a musician, updates me on the status of her cds and such.

those are the only two i don't see regularly. the others live in texas, i have four of them currently in my life. those friends who can tangibly support me. and whom i love dearly.

this blog was to be about reviewing friends, but i'll do that some other time. as i am only now beginning to face that dilemma. i am reviewing acquaintances currently, and hoping to treat them no different than those i've reviewed without knowing them personally. it is quite a wonderful opportunity to speak with an author about a book. such a conversation took place recently and i hope i never become the kind of person who uses my friends' names, their association with unknown me as leverage or influence. if their association is genuine and the Lord uses it to further us both, praise God. if not, i must remember to remain silent and not name the names of friends however influential they may be and trust the great Influencer to be my endorsement.