Today I woke up at my normal 5:30 a.m. to a dark sky. I fed the cats, set the coffee pot a dripping, filling the morning air with that near irresistible fresh coffee smell. The world was quiet with all my neighbors peacefully sleeping after a hard work week. When the cats finished their breakfast, I cleaned their plates, found a clean empty cup and filled it half way with coffee and some vanilla creamer. I only fill it half way because I like the coffee hot and a full cup leaves the second half too cool.
I opened the door to a cool Saturday morning that followed a 93 degree day the day before. I cranked open the slanted window and listened to the remnant of rain roll off the roof and plink down the down spout. Sometimes the wind would blow and the rain drops that had been captured by the leaves rattled the bushes below. Peaceful, yes, peaceful indeed.
As the sun rose somewhere high above the clouds, the sky while still gray, got lighter. As is typical, the Saturday runners began their quest for the development of a more fit body. The birds sang and cheered for a morning that was not hot. I sat at the table on the porch and simply enjoyed nature at one of its best moments. I had nowhere I had to be. I had no urgent schedule. I had no chores demanding my presence. I was free to, well, do nothing. A life filled with special moments is a special life indeed. Only if there were more of them.
I read a devotional, did my prayers and read from a couple of books that gave me pause to think how I might live life better. I went to the kitchen and poured my second one half cup of coffee and went back to the table to wait for the thunderstorm that I could see coming our way. Because I was not held hostage by tasks and chores, I noticed the thunder in a deeper way. I realized the power in it's voice. It roared with a deep tone in perfect pitch. The ground trembled and I realized that no matter what we humans do or don't do, thunder exudes a power mightier than we can even begin to create. God has taken a couple parts of nature and made something heard for miles and miles that also makes the ground shake. I found that awe inspiring.
My wife made her way down the stairs following the trail of fresh brewed coffee leading her to the kitchen. She grabbed a sweatshirt and joined me at the table. We chatted for a few minutes when the skies parted dropping an enormous amount of rain. I could almost hear the ground sigh as its thirst was immediately quenched.
We decided it would be fun to go to the shopping area where we could dash through the rain to a hot breakfast. We sat and chatted and lazily finished our meal. What a pretty neat start to our weekend.
As I stood to pay our bills, my cell phone rang. It was a call from a dear friend from Georgia. Actually he was my boss before he was my friend. We worked together when I lived in South Carolina and that working relationship grew into today's friendship.
This phone call was different. Most times, one of us is in a hurry, driving, in the middle of something, or a little distracted.
We once went on a work trip to Charleston SC where I observed his fondness for Dunkin' Donuts. (If you have followed my blogs then you know I have a fondness, perhaps a small addiction, for DD. Before I had taken that trip with him I did not know that a love of good coffee and Boston Cream donuts was contagious, but alas it was!) The fact that amazed me most was that he knew of every "just off the road" Dunkin' all the way to Charleston. If I was Yoda from Star Wars, I might say, "Impressed I was, Yes!" His passion stuck with me even though it is nearly three years since I left SC.
Around Christmas last year, I found myself standing in the middle of a DD filling my lungs with air full of the scent of fresh coffee and recently created BCs. (Boston Creams) Suddenly, I spotted something I knew he just had to have. I grabbed my tasty delights and the token of his passion and headed home. This token ended up sitting on my dresser for the past 7 months and I finally mailed it to him.
This morning's call was in response to it finally finding its way to him. Sometime during our conversation, he mentioned the very thing I said earlier. Most times we just enjoy a momentary connection in the midst of a busy life. This time he set aside the time, not in the middle of something or on the way to work but time set aside just for us to catch up. Just think about that. In our world it seems that time is our most fleeting and precious commodity. It seems that we have less time than we have stuff, yet he made this call one that could go on uninterupted. We talked for an hour. Not only did we catch up but in the course of it all, I think we know each other a little better. He now knows who my hero is and I know what special thing he does at his church, just to mention two.
Today, most of us communicate through text messages, voicemails, and emails. We respond to one another via recorded messages and voiceless words typed on a screen. We now see and hear one another less than ever and wonder why friends can be hard to find and even harder to hold on to. It is a cold, cold world in which we try to find warmth in our friends. A while back, I wrote that we often confuse acquaintances with friends. We have made the word "friend" mean so much less than what it used to. Perhaps today's definition of "friend" is someone who is a little more familiar than a stranger. Maybe it is someone we have seen more than once and know their name. I always say, "You have to be a friend to have a friend." Friendship takes some effort, it is not just a quick trip through the friend drive-through window.
What happened today was us two guys just being friends and I can use it to make two points.
One: Know the people you call friends enough to have an idea of what they like and enjoy. Even better, know what they have some level of passion about.
Two: Make an effort to not just squeeze them into a free minute here and there. Set some time aside and you might learn something.
Today started out pretty cool but because of how my "friend" made a special time to chat, today became "memorable." His effort is one that will stick with me because I know how much I appreciated it.
Don't treat friendships as if they were a dime a dozen or if you can find one on any corner. Good friendships are rare and hard to find.
Set aside some time and make that call that you have been putting off. Go out and spend five bucks on a Hoops and Yoyo talking card (which I am doing once I am done here-I love those cards) and send it off to a friend you really care about. Find a trinket that goes along with their passion and ship it off to them. (Disclaimer- if their passion is Porsches, maybe think smaller)
The point is - right now, today, make the effort to let them know you value them. Don't they make your world a better place? Don't they deserve to be told so?
Oh, yes. If you are in the midst of a tiff with your friend - GET OVER IT so you can GET ON WITH IT! Take it from me, a pretty neat day being turned into a memorable one is a great gift.
"Love (or friendship) cannot survive if you just give it scraps of yourself, scraps of your time, scraps of your thoughts." Mary O'Hara - singer
Feed your friendship with the fullness of life and yourself. Don't toss it scraps.
Love and blessings!