That's What Friends Are For

The past few days I have been on emotional empathy overload and I vacillate between sadness and anger over the horrendous situation at Virginia Tech.  For my own sanity I have to cleanse my mind with good thoughts and reinforce my fragile belief that the world is full of good people.  Luckily for me, I have some wonderful friends in my life, a great sister, and loving daughters.

As I stated in an earlier blog, my daughter and son-in-law's dog Yoshi, died before Christmas. I was really attached to this dog, and I miss him dearly. Right after he died, I called my college roommate Kaern, who lives in Kansas City, and asked her if she could do a picture of him that I could give my daughter as a Christmas present. Despite the fact that it was two weeks before Christmas, she said she would try to get it done.  I emailed her pictures of him and in a day or two she amazed me by emailing me this realistic pastel. She captured him completely, from his big, sad brown eyes, to his flabby jaw. This is how I remember him, right before he took his eternal nap. Within in a week, she had finished it, framed it, and mailed it off to me. I gave it to Shannon and Jerome for Christmas and it meant a lot to all of us. That is what you call a real friend.

Two of my best friends are Kaern and Chloe from my college days so long ago. College is a time when you need friends the most, and you bond like no other time in your life. You live with these people twenty four hours a day and go through some of the best times and worst times of your life.  You prepare for the real world together. Throughout the years, distance comes between you, but the friendship is always there. I seem to find myself looking back over these times through rose colored glasses. I still cherish their friendship and tend to forget the annoying times, like the dead pig that had to  be disected for biology and spent the night in our room, the puking in the bathroom because someone couldn't make it to the third floor on most nights, all the trouble I got into for just being an innocent bystander, and I could go on and on.  I keep having happy reminisces and know that if we hold on to these  thoughts, we will maintain these close friendships forever. We're planning on getting together in Oregon this summer and I'm really looking forward to it.

Here is a pastel that Kaern did of her dog Sophia who is a duplicate of my childhood dog, Belle, which won her an Honorable Mention at Images Art Gallery in Kansas City.  I was always jealous that she was a much better artist than me, and it came so easily to her. At least I could hold my liquor better, and in college that means a lot.

Comments

[kat]

oh that's a great post :)