This was my last week working for the Sanpete Messenger, and it began in the best way possible - with a friend who came to hang out and stay at my house with me.
I met Ashley several months ago through Kiera, a mutual friend. She gave me a ride down south, and we packed plenty of memories into that evening and the following day. We went on an interesting hike that was more vertical than horizontal, got shakes at the Malt Shop (that's what the store's called), went swimming, went to the delicious little Mexican restaurant on Main Street and to a drive-in movie. We also got lost on the way to a s'mores fest with the local Young Single Adult Ward and went to the Manti Temple.
I can't stop thinking about that trip. During one of our deeper conversations about life, Ashley looked at me and said, "I can trust you, can't I?"
A warm glow, mingled with some unease because I wasn't sure what to expect next (I need not have worried), spread through me. I work hard to foster trust with people, but very few of my friends actually talk to me about their deepest hopes, dreams and fears.
Sometimes, because I don't have many friends I talk to about deep things, I feel superficial with them, as though I only keep them around so I can hold them up and say, "I have x number of friends. People like me. I'm popular."
The truth goes more like this: I simply can't bring myself to let anyone go. My definition of "friend" includes most of the people I meet; the ones I really connect with are mentally termed "CLOSE friends," and once I've labeled someone a close friend, I won't ever let them go. I still keep in contact with nearly all of my close friends from elementary school, high school and college.
It's been a long time since I added another person to my close friends. In fact, many of the people I was once close to have systematically moved outside to the generic "friend" label... 99 percent of them not from lack of effort on my part.
I'm grateful to have another person to add to my close friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment