Jesse Welsh is an old dear friend of mine that I meet 20 years ago when we moved in to the projects behind the Coke-A-Cola Plant on HWY 14 in like '85! We stayed real good "friends" even after he moved.....we were like 7! I use to go stay the night at his house for like the whole weekend! It was cool.
I remember one night we had a bad storm or a transformer blew or something. Anyway, I woke up in the middle of the night and Tammi was up. I don't remember the details because it a long time ago and a lot has happened in life over 17 years, but I still remember the dream that I had.
It was as simple as I moved in with them and became part of the family.
Over time I had become part of the family and I still talk to Nana (Tammi's mom). A few years ago when I came back from Japan (I think), I went to see Nana and we called Jess. I found out that he was getting married and all that good shit.
Well, he e-mailed me not too long ago and gave me his blog site and phone number. I called him last night and we talked for an hour! He is doing well!
So, this got me thinking about friends! Webster defines 'friend' as:
1 a : one attached to another by affection or esteem
b : ACQUAINTANCE
2 a : one that is not hostile
b : one that is of the same nation, party, or group
3 : one that favors or promotes something (as a charity)
4 : a favored companion
5 capitalized : a member of a Christian sect that stresses Inner Light, rejects sacraments and an ordained ministry, and opposes war -- called also Quaker
and an acquaintance as:
1 a : the state of being acquainted
b : personal knowledge : FAMILIARITY
2 a : the persons with whom one is acquainted
b : a person whom one knows but who is not a particularly close friend
To me this is interesting because I have always thought of the 2 as a differentiation between people I share parts of my life with and people I tolerate (plus the 89% of people that I just don't like).A best friend is some one you can talk to once every 3 years, months or weeks and feel like nothing has changed. I have one of these and we are more along the once every 6 months time line. I know she will be there for me no matter what happens and she knows I will drop the world for her if she needs me too (we have both done it). Then I have less than 5 true life friends that I have known pre-navy that I talk to off and on. Now, just standard friends maybe 10! Everyone else acquaintance!
1 comment:
You hit it on the head - a best friend is someone you can talk to after a year and it's like you were never apart for more than a day. I have a friend I've been friends with since I was 12 or 13 that I didn't talk to for about 3 years...she just came to visit and it was just like that, like we'd never been apart.
P.S. Good move on the word verification!
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