Real Friends Cry Together

Now I don't mean to be morbid, but once again I have to mention the funeral I was at over this past weekend for my friend Sherman. It was really a learning experience for me.

Since Sherman was only 43, a big majority of the people there were young......way too young to be saying goodbye to one of their peers. Most likely this was the first experience at death, or funerals for a lot of these young people.

We used to have a big group of friends. We partied hardy, drank, danced, and laughed together every weekend. We could make a party out of just about anything (My friend Maddie used to make drinks out of anything we could find in the fridge and call them simply "Maddies".) Anyway, we thought we had a great bond amongst us. And at that time maybe we did. But like everything else, good times come to an end. People in our group moved away, coupled up, or just grew up. No one was in their 20's anymore, 30's were getting used up and a slow approach to 40 was haunting more than a few. (Of course I was the old coot ... in my mid-40's when I started with this great bunch.) Some people just couldn't get along any more. No particular reason ... just different personalities, hurt feelings, and so forth.

Now on a one-to-one basis, I'm sure many of us cried some unhappy tears with each other over the years. But this past weekend there wasn't a dry eye among us ... and no one was ashamed to "let it out". We cried, hugged, stared into space, and then cried some more. Although this was a small sampling of the big group we used to have, it made one thing abundantly clear. Real friends cry together, hurt together, and for a small moment in time can forget all the hurts and pains of past misunderstandings and stand together to be one. I only wish we could keep that feeling going because as sure as rain, there will be more tears in our future.

I have a favorite poem called "I LOVE THE WORD IMPOSSIBLE". It has hung in my kitchen for more years that I can remember. It was written by Ann Kiemel. My hope is to one day have someone cross stitch and frame it for me. I'd like to share it with you because it surely says what is in my heart.

i love the word impossible...it's like joy after sorrow

people being friends after being enemies.

rainbows after drenching rain,

a wound healed,

sunsets on quiet evenings after hot, noisy days.

paralyzed, injured limbs learning to grow strong and useful again,

forgiveness after wrong

truth after fog,

new love-made babies.

birds, learning to fly and own the sky,

bitterness turned to mellowness

fresh, genuine hope ... once abandoned

people finding each other at right moments

in unexpected, obscure places ...

for God-ordained reasons.

i love the word impossible because my God believes in adventure

and extraordinary mountains,

and He dares to be alive in a world

crawling with terrible situations.

He promises to be bigger than any impossibility

because He is love ...

and love always finds a way through, in time.

----Ann Kiemel---

God bless all my friends, old and new.