Friends Helping Friends

It is amazing how hearing someone's voice, their laugh, the way they speak and their silly little slang can conjure up a picture of them.

With their tone you can read their emotions, and if they are good friend, even see their facial expressions in your head.

My friend Dank is one of the sweetest, most genuine guys that I know. He is like a brother to me.

This is a picture of us at a 5K open water swim that our swim team did together.

I was expecting it to be hard to talk to him.

About 6 weeks ago, a mutual friend of ours passed away unexpectedly. She was a few years younger than us, but he was pretty close to her and her family. His school is too far away to be able to come home for the funeral, and I had only

talked to him on the phone after it happened.

It was a hard time for all of us, but knowing he was so far removed from everyone and hearing how stunned and heartbroken he was on the phone made my heart break for him too.

How do you talk on the phone when words offer no solace?

We talked for a while a few days ago, but didn't voice the tragedy that was still heavy on our thoughts. Better to save those topics for when a hug is all the comfort you can offer.

This conversation was much more light-hearted. I told him about how I fell down the stairs in my house, he told me how his friend dumped syrup all over a girl in the dining hall.

And the whole time I could see a happy expression on his face.

Rekindling the Flames

Two posts in one day! Lucky you!

I have just been handed the golden envelope of Week 3's challenges by Challenge Master number 3. Yes, it is a rather elaborate ceremony here, rivaling Flava Flav's clock handout on House of Love.

Anyway, I must pick my poison from...

• Call a friend I haven't talked to in a while each day to find out how they are doing.
• When having conversations with people really listen intently to what they are saying and don't tune them out.
• Don't eat dessert or sweets for the whole week.

I have decided to try to rekindle the friendship flames that have perhaps died down over the weeks, months or years.

There are always people I miss talking to. As much as I would love to keep up with everyone's lives it is hard because I am always on the move and worrying about my friends here in the present. Then when I do finally talk to my old friends it is such a process, and a hassle and a long phone call, even though I am always glad I did it when it is over.

But the more I put it off the harder it becomes to get it done so this week I will buckle down and talk to my lost loves (in the platonic sense of the word) and find out who is getting engaged, who is failing out of school, who is moving to Europe when they graduate, and who is getting fat!

This should open some interesting doors.

Don't worry, I'll be the one getting fat since I can still eat dessert this week.

Grudges Be Gone

What would it be like in a world without grudges?

Would there be fewer religious wars, terrorist attacks, and murders of cheating spouses?

Would people be less stressed without carrying the angry weight of a past wrong?

Would the sun shine brighter, the grass be greener and the water taste sweeter?

OK maybe I've gone a little too far with that last one. Seriously though, I think if more people were less willing to hold onto bitterness and resentment they would find there are many more useful alternatives to put that extra energy towards. Mystic Eye says getting rid of those bad experiences leaves more room for the good ones.

This week that is what I tried to do. Granted I did not have a boyfriend-stealing best friend to have to forgive or an encounter with someone cheating off my paper then making a better grade than me, but as I went through the week I found things I could let go of easier.

According to my "Do You Hold A Grudge?" quiz on blogthings.com I don't hold on to bitterness too much.

You Don't Hold a Grudge

You're willing to give almost anyone a second chance, even if they've really wronged you.Incredibly forgiving and compassionate, you understand that people sometimes change for the better.

Do You Hold a Grudge?

This challenge did not really give me any life-changing enlightening moments, but I will continue to try to be "incredibly forgiving and compassionate".