Lunch with Friends

It needs to be said. I value my time with my friends as one of the great gifts of my life. Coffee, a glass of wine, lunch, dinner, just hanging out, it doesn’t matter. There is something special I get from that time that is not matched by any other interaction. Not from family time, not from alone time, not from people at work or performing on stage. I love all these things, immeasurably, don’t get me wrong. But I want to sing the praises of friendship. There is nothing like it.

Our time, after all, is so precious. As we get older (perhaps because we know it is not unlimited) it becomes even more so. My aspiration is to refuse to continue to do anything that brings me down or spend my time on shallow, unnecessary obligations. Pretty lofty, yes? I want to spend my time in a way that enriches me, motivates me and hopefully those I am with.

When I sit down with friends, real friends, we talk so fast that we overlap… but that’s okay. We talk about everything from our hopes and dreams to our frustrations and pain. We talk about books, about tv shows, about Nia (we even do a little sometimes). We talk about what inspires us… and what doesn’t. We share ideas. We encourage. We tell the truth. I think. We laugh and laugh and laugh. Friends are good medicine. They are a large part of what makes me, me.

So to my friends, you know who you are, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.