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Health & Fitness

Thank You My Friend

A personal thank you to a best friend.

Tis’ the season so they say. Why bring that up? Well, mostly because it’s right around Thanksgiving when I write this. That tends to be important, because it actually got me thinking a little on what it is exactly I am thankful for. Here’s what I came up with and in truth always seem to come back to.

Family. Not the “Oh cousin Henry!” type. No, I mean those who you share no DNA with. Those who have stepped into your life, and you would have been a much less person for knowing. The family you choose.

I have this friend. I will spare him by not actually naming him here, as he may hunt me down. We have been best friends since right around fourth grade. For a very long time, and this is not an exaggeration, we were inseparable. His mother was my mother. My mother was his. We had a friendship that we like to say, “was forged in fire.” Truer words may have never been spoken. He is my brother.

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He will always be my brother.

This one single man has shaped more of my life than any single human. An argument could be given that this even includes my mother who I love more than life itself. Literally he was there through the thickest and thinnest.

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When my father passed when I was a teen, and we had no concept of what death truly was, he was right by my side. Before I knew I had a drinking/drug problem, he knew. Not only did he know, he stood up and told me that I was an idiot. Then he stood by me as I tried to figure out how to dry up. Even as we got old and started to get gray hair, when my mother passed away, we shed the same tears. Once again he held me and held me up.

He was there to teach me how to drive a stick shift that I was foolish enough to buy. We laughed long into many nights over cheese and how funny cumquats sounded. The terror and laughter the first time we spun on the iced up road and went into the ditch. (Twice) And how we would one day rule the entire world!

And for most of my life he was my Jiminy Cricket. The one to tell me, “You know that’s probably a stupid idea.” And the other half of the time he was there to say “You know that’s probably a stupid idea…but fun!”

He was almost like a father, and is still my brother. The one person I could call from anywhere at any time, and I would have no doubt he would be there. Most likely with bail money, even though we don’t see each other as much as we should.

Now that I have only explained a fraction of who this person is, nor could I ever really put into words who he is, we get right back to the point.

See, it dawned on me that I don’t think I have ever really told him thank you. Oh sure, “Thanks for the gift.” type of thanks, but never a sincere thank you.

So this is for my friend, my brother, my family… Thank you. I would be a shell of myself without you in my life.

 Why do I put this out here for all to see. Simple really. One, he deserves the recognition if even in someone’s anonymous thoughts. Two, for anyone who reads this, remember those people who have made them who they are today.

And remember this, “A friend will bail you out of jail. A best friend will be sitting next to you saying how fun that was!”

Thank you my friend.

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