The Ones That Matter

I should be working on a project right now . . . but I'm watching the fifth season of One Tree Hill and thinking about my life instead.

There are very few people in your life who will always be there. Very few people in your life who you can be your true self with and they love you because of your idiosyncrasies . . . not in spite of them. Very few people in your life who hurt when you hurt, love when you love, and laugh when you act like a total nerd.

I am lucky enough to have two people in my life who are exactly that. Most people are lucky if they find just one person . . . but I have two . . . and it will be three when I find the one I will spend the rest of my life with (he's gotta be out there somewhere, right?)

But these two people . . . we could not talk for days or even weeks and yet somehow they always know when I need them . . . they somehow always know.

I don't think these two people know how special they are to me . . . and how much they have changed my life . . . and how much I need them (even though I tend to push people away when I need them most).

I got this text tonight:
"Knowing when you're not doing well isn't always a good thing because even though you don't want to talk (which is cool) I can't help but mentally visualize you upset and not happy. And that smile. Gosh I miss that smile! And from the sound of things I don't think you've smiled a whole lot lately. It just sucks knowing I can't actually be there to hold you and tell you everything's going to be alright."

This person has a lot of things to figure out in his own life . . . and yet all that matters to him is my happiness. He is one of the best people I have ever met. Actually . . . that's a lie. He is THE best person I have ever met. He is the most fantastic friend someone could ever ask for. Last year I told him he was my best friend . . . and that is still true. He's my brother. My best friend. My confidant. My comedian. And I just love the kid. I don't know what I would do without him.

Then, this morning I got this posted on my wall on Facebook:
"A sucky haiku:

Jake's nub is on me.
Coffee exams badger yeah!
I see you in weeks."

We've known each other for six and a half years. We haven't been best friends the whole time . . . heck, for about five of those months we weren't friends at all (and those five months were torture without her). She knows me like nobody else and half the time we are probably the same person.  We have conversations in "bear." We run around with towels tied around our necks as capes. We have iCarly marathons. We do spontaneous things that some people only ponder doing . . . and this was all just the summer before our junior year of college. When we were in high school we were the girls people always looked at and thought "Wow, they're strange." Well . . . the only thing that has changed about that is that we are a few years older. She is also an amazing writer. I know she doesn't want to admit it most of the time . . . and I know having people read her novels scares the crap out of her . . . but the day that I can go into Barnes and Noble and buy every copy of her book that is on the shelf will be one of the best days of my life.  She is also one of the strongest people I have ever met . . . and she makes me want to be a stronger person. She has had more happen to her in her almost twenty-one years of life than most people have in a lifetime . . . and I'm jealous of how she handles it with so much grace and a smile on her beautiful face. She has a lot of absolutely wonderful things in her life right now and she deserves all of it. And I am so grateful to still have her in my life after all this time and after everything we have been through.

God sent me these two people for a reason and I thank him everyday for bringing them into my life.

I could go on and on about the effect they have had on my life . . . but I'll leave you with this . . . 

The people you have in your life . . . do they make you want to be a better person? Do you thank God everyday for sending them to you? Can you imagine your life without them? 

Would you be a lesser person without them? 

I know I would be.

Just A Word

When we were in high school we often had a difficult time seeing beyond the reality of those four years. All our problems seemed never-ending and horrid.  Our friends were going to be around for a lifetime. And we couldn't see how much things would change after we left.

Now that we are in college . . . we may be older, but the same song is playing.  At times it is difficult for us to see past these four years. Past this campus. Past the classes and the parties and the relationships. But what happens when we leave? Some of us will continue our educations. Some of us will scatter anywhere we can find a job.

But we will all leave eventually. We will start our adult lives. We will start our careers. Get married. Have kids. And everything that happened in college (and high school) will only be a faint memory. None of it will matter. In the grand scheme of things . . . these four years will be a blip.

When all is said and done . . . these four years will only be a word . . .  in a line . . . of a song. The word still makes the song what it is . . . but there is SO much more to it.

So, the next time you start to stress over you life or worry about your relationships or torture yourself with pettiness . . . think about your song and if you are going to let that word take over the meaning or if you are going to look forward to what's to come.