Sweet Sweet Joo

I am lucky to have circle upon circle of friends, a special blessing given my years of not having any (backstory here and here).

One of them lives far away in New York. We lived together oh so many years ago in Hoboken, sharing bags of bacon cheddar chips on the weekends, whilst watching Real World marathons. We caught matinee horror movies ("I'll never teeellllll!") at crappy shopping mall cinemas, whilst chomping on Arby's roast beef sandwiches. On Sunday mornings, we'd walk to the overpriced coffee shop opposite the overpriced laundromat, grab a cuppa and the Sunday paper, and trade off on reading various sections while our laundry whirled in the dryers. She even woke me up when the US invaded Iraq so that we could watch the coverage together (although we did battle over whose coverage to watch: NBC or CNN!).

Sweet sweet Joo is on assignment this week in LA, so we got to hang out this weekend. She even spent the night at my house, so that we could go to church together in the morning! And I'm so glad she did because the sermon that morning, (a continuation of a great series about being friends with God that I urge you to listen to here) began with a meditation on real friendship, one that had us poking each other in recognition of the ways in which we are each real friends to each other.

"A simple friend has never seen you cry.
A real friend has shoulders soggy from your tears.

A simple friend doesn't know your parents' first names.
A real friend has their phone numbers in his address book.

A simple friend brings a bottle of wine to your party.
A real friend comes early to help you cook and clean.

A simple friend hates it when you call after she has gone to bed.
A real friend asks you why you took so long to call.

A simple friend seeks to talk with you about their problems.
A real friend seeks to help you with your problems.

A simple friend wonders about your romantic history.
A real friend could blackmail you with it.

A simple friend, when visiting, acts like a guest.
A real friend opens your refrigerator and helps herself.

A simple friend thinks the friendship is over when you have an argument.
A real friend knows that it's not a friendship until after you've had a fight.

A simple friend expects you to always be there for them.
A real friend expects to always be there for you."



(sniff)

-x-
aarti