Friendship

Ok, so I admit it...I am a little sappy...but there are no holds barred when it comes to those I consider my friends. For the longest time, I have valued friendship as family. Even in college I grew close to my fraternity brothers as if they were my family and to this day still value many of them as such. What really hits home to me even at the ripe ol' age of 34, is my ability to still find them. Be it work friends, neighbors, couples, new, young, old (no specific age defined, uh hmmm).

Friendship is a strange beast. There are scattered layers of friends: those you can trust, those you have fun with, those you reveal your most intimate secrets (I know I sound like I have a va-jay-jay), those you get drunk with, those you hold back from, those you help, those who see it wise to help you, those that just seem to be at the right place at the right time...to everything turn-turn-turn...

The real truth is friendship is summed up in one very important philosophy of life...it's not the action of the man, it's the reaction of those around him. I am blessed with friends from all walks of life. Each of those people have given back to me unselfishly what I have hopefully given first. So as I ramble on and on about the intricacies of Eli's friendship milieu, I have really but one thing to say...thanks to all of my friends. I am who I am because of those friendships which have touched my life. They may be long term, they may be short lived, they may be but just a brief encounter, but each of my friends have shaped me into who I am. I truly hope I have done the same in return.