Friends

I was driving home the other night from Matt and Laura's house from the other side of LA and was thinking how lame it is that we'll let relationships become dilapidated because of neglect. They invited me up for dinner (or maybe it was me inviting myself up for dinner, I'm pretty sure that's how it went) on Sunday night and it was so nice to be able to visit with them. We had a nice little dinner, I finally got to see their place, and we ended up just hanging out for a few hours.

It only took me an hour to get up there, and on my way back I thought to myself a lot about how valuable my relationships are with all of you people. Having a decent job, house, and some other things are nice and important, but I'm glad I define myself largely by the relationships I have. And maybe I'm just really lucky because I'm so privileged to have such good people in my life so it makes it easy for me to do that.

As I was sitting with Matt and Laura the other night, it was so cool to see their interaction with their little boy, Chase, and realize once again just how great Laura is. In getting to know Matt a little better, I learned also that she didn't have to settle at all when it came to her husband. I had kind of forgotten that Laura is one of the closest things there is to a female version of Dave and I. Although I can be pretty effiminate.

I felt full after I left their house that night (and I'm not just talking about the food). All it really takes to have that sense of fulfillment is making an hour drive, picking up the phone, or just making the effort to invest some time and energy into another person. You know what else? Even if you're unsure about where you stand with the other person, people always respond when you make that effort to show that you're interested in them. Always. And it's always worth it too.

I was planning on writing this post anyway, but I feel like Matt and Laura will be let down if I didn't mention that I spent some time with them the other night. Apparently, I post about so many things of little consequence that Matt had asked me if I was going to write a post on Bernie Mac's passing because, "(I'm) the only person who would put something like that on (my) blog." And although I'm saddened by his death, I'm not so personally affected by it.

Some of Laura's friends dropped by while I was over and she introduced me as one of her oldest friends. At first I was surprised, but then I realized that it was true for her as well. I can't believe it has been 10 years since our freshman year at BYU. And I'm starting all over again up there in a couple of weeks. Crazy.

Anyway, thanks.