Dear Jack,
I got together with some old roommates from college today. It was a girl's day through and through, which was great. I hadn't seen Lacey since the summer, and Seanna and Marianna since I moved to Salado a month and a half ago. Sara was the only one missing. She's actually in California visiting family and doing some sort of Catholic mission. She was missed.
As I was sitting at dinner with Seanna (the other girls had to leave a bit earlier, longer drives than I had), I was struck by the fact that out of all the "friends" I had in college, my circle of influence remained quite small. I can name 5 people who I actually attempt to keep in touch with. Everyone else has simply faded away, as if I never really knew them in the first place.
A small part of me wonders if I did, or if any of them truly knew me.
I explained to Seanna that I thought it really wasn't that odd that I came away from college with so few people that I considered a friend... I know to some people I seem crass, superficial, judgemental, or superior minded. What these other people never realized was that there are different levels to a person. It's always easy to assume that "what you see is what you get", but in my case, that was just not so. My friends are the people that bothered to look past those fronts, to scale the depths to find what was truly me.
All of those things I am, but there is also a part of me that has to knock on the back of every wardrobe door because I'm convinced that there is a portal to Narnia out there, somewhere. I just have to keep looking to find it. The people that go through the wardrobe and look into my soul... those are the people worth keeping as friends.
Always,
John (someone who considers you a friend) :)
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My dear friend,
There is something nostalgic about dinners with old friends. When I have gotten back together with good friends, the type of friends who have stepped through "the wardrobe" and made an imprint on my soul, we simply pick up where we left off. It is like the distance and time have never existed.
It is neither crass nor mean to make that statement. It is realistic. There is no way you can keep up with everyone. I think we all know that in the back of our minds even when we are in the unique stage of life known as college. You and I are very much alike because we both choose our friends. I was careful where I invested my time and my friendships. Each was a little bit different, each was special.
Do you remember Shakespeare in Shelburne's class? The class which absolutely kicked our asses... We were cocky sophomores and that class took both of us for a ride...even though we were definitely the best students in the class. It was the group selection on the first day of class which sealed our friendship. I do not even remember which play we chose but we killed with our presentation.
I am rambling on; this is another benchmark of a good friend. It is the ability to have rambling, unguarded conversation.
Cheers,
Jack
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