Best Friend

I love my best friend. Funny right? A couple of months ago I was frsutrated with the lack of sharing. I think what I was frustrated with was what I did not hear from him - what he was not telling me about what was going on in his head.

What I realized tonight (and what I have known) is that it is hard for him to share what is going on inside his head and heart. One, he does not like sharing about himself, he is very other focused. Two, it can be frustrating for him if he does share his innermost thoughts and then perceives that he is not explaining in an articulate way. And three, he is going through a lot of change and a lot of flux for which the reasons the change is happening have not yet made themselves apparent.

Well, tonight he shared a lot with me. He got frustrated at times b/c he felt he was not articulating well, but he shared anyway. And he shared with me b/c I believe he trusts me. And that sharing is his gift to me. His listening and asking questions is a gift to me also, and he did a lot of that tonight, but his sharing is such a beautiful gift because he is a beautiful person.

It was an intense and deep conversation, like so many of them are. And, I am recording this partially for the reason that it will serve as a reminder for me to go back to when I am frustratred by a less deep conversation of ours. It will help me to remember that so many of our conversations are deep, so many of them are powerful and I have so much to be thankful for that he is my best friend.

So much of my growth has come from the wisdom others have - either general wisdom about life or specific wisdom about my life - and he has more personal wisdom about me and knows me SO well that he has served as such a blessing in my life. He has been a catalyst for my growth and a loving observer of my thoughts and behavior. I am so thankful he is in my life, so thankful for his wisdom, his giving heart, his love, his conversations, his questions.

He is a gift and I pray I never forget that. Tonight he reminded me of that =)