YOUR FRIENDS CAN GET YOU THROUGH ANYTHING

For many years and many reasons I sort of lost touch with my old High school friends.We were an eclectic bunch. On the outside we were an unlikely group, there were Ateneans, LaSallistas, one was from South Ridge. I think at that age we only had one thing in common, our love of cars. But let me qualify that, not because I loved cars means I had a kick ass ride, my cars story deserves a separate post all together.

How we started out was pretty funny, we all met in church. A good friend of mine from school asked me to join this church group in San Antonio, in fact I vividly remember his long monologue on how beautiful the girls were. After pointing out the names of the high school heartthrobs that were part of it, I needed no additional motivation to join.

After the retreat weekend, I found my self frequenting the weekly Saturday meetings. In all honesty the weekend worked its magic, half of my motivation was to get close to god, half was to be with my new found friends. The long and short of it I became very active. So before I knew it I was part of this group the lost boys. There was a time when I would see these guys at least three times a week, two of the lost boys lived in the same village, and most of the other guys would converge in their houses. For a while all of us were joined in the hip. Its funny as I look back that I found my closest friends in the most unlikely place, aside from my best friend who is also part of it, I would have never met these guys if not for that church group in San Antonio.

Fast forward to 14 years after, they are still my closest group of friends. I have met many people and formed close bonds with different groups, but being with them feels like home. I apologize to all of you for not being able to put more effort in keeping touch. But that will change from now on.

As I went through one of the saddest chapters of my life, it was them that picked up the pieces and carried me through. The countless nights, of listening to me wallow, the hour long conversations about my grief and the annoying can I go with you even if I'm a third wheel, they were willing to go through all of that without flinching. Because it was me.

Its getting better now, I'm not as sad, I just need constant attention, and my best friend who is as bad as me when it comes to answering phone calls is making an effort to return my calls immediately, that in itself is a miracle. Thank you brother. Right now I get my strength from their constant reminder that I will get over this, and its working. I have moved past depression and anger, and I find my self accepting what has happened.

I guess I always knew how lucky I was to have such a great set of friends, so the only thing left to do, is to tell them myself.