Friends

I'm really happy to see that I have found a great group of friends. Some, maybe more upkeep than others but otherwise, I am sure that I have chosen a group of people that I know I would be friends with forever. We may go our separate ways as we pursue each others' careers and love interests but we all know that somewhere out there are friends who would be there for you whenever you need it.

Last night, I had the priviledge to have dinner with friends I formed in college. We dubbed ourselves the "UN" group. I never thought I'd find myself reminiscing the past the way my father did with his "mistah" (military friends). I always thought it was ridiculous and quite corney --once you've heard the same story 5-6 times before. But I found myself to be in the same situation last night as I used to observe my dad and his friends. Now I understand, you have lived it to be able to enjoy the story and if you are a bystander, like I was when I was listening to my fathers' stories, then it was not as fun. The stories do not get old at all and you just enjoy the looking back at the past. Sometimes though you would find that you tell yourself "whoa....what the hell was I thinking?" but the fact is, you live and learn from what you did and experienced ... then move on. The trick is to learn, to grow, to find out how your experiences can be applied to the future. The past as come and gone and there is no need to dwell on it, really --there is no way you can fix the past now can you, or relive it if it were a great episode of life. But the story does not end in the past...nor does it end now. I don't even think it ends when you pass away. That's my theory though and I bet someone can prove me wrong and would have other theories to throw into the mix. But alas, life goes on.

Friends are still the greatest and we ought to be careful who we pick as friends. We often watch and hear about friendships gone wrong...heck, we even hear about family relationships gone wrong. Its scary to think that those we trust would turn on you but honestly, I would rather not think about that. Most people who know me would agree that I'm one person who always sees the good in others. Its hard sometimes and your patience is put to the test but I still refuse to think that people are inherently evil but I believe quite the opposite. I guess that's why I sometimes find myself hurt for trusting people too quickly. However, I have learned to adjust my expectations of people even with older friends. We are never the same person in the beginning of our friendships. We all grow, we all change, we all evolve. Thus the required adjustments in life.