Recently, I spoke to a friend who is going through a tough time. I should explain what I mean by friend. This guy, I would have to say, is my oldest friend. He is the first legitimate friend I can ever remember having. One day during preschool I had him believing that my tennis shoes would turn into baseball cleats just by pressing a button on them. When he told me to prove it, I simply replied, "I don't have batteries in them right now."
Whether he ever truly believed they would become cleats or not doesn't matter, but that was the start of my first true friendship. Don't get me wrong he isn't the closest friend that I have. As a matter of a fact he hasn't been a close friend for well over a decade but we recently ran into each other in Walmart (of all places).
Growing up, I stayed over at his house (or he at mine) at every given opportunity. He always had the latest gaming console and the most awesome games to go with it. We were inseparable. Others would join our little awesome duo from time to time but at the end of the day, but at the end of the day we would remain.
Moving into Jr High, which is obviously a difficult time for everyone, we began to drift apart. I was more into the sports scene and he was more into screamo music. This continued on into high school, where we were separated by the classes that we took. Our lives began to drift apart. nobody told me when it was going to be the last time we spent the night with each other, played our last video game together, or talked about girls together.
Our Senior year of high school, I'm not sure we even said 10 sentences to each other. This wasn't because we were mad at each other or anything bad at all. We had simply gone down our separate paths. In my yearbook that year, I will never forget what he wrote to me.
"Jacob, You'll always be my first friend and I'm sorry we've drifted apart over the years... I would normally say something funny at this point, but I love you man."
If you knew who I was talking about you would be in tears. And now, present day, he is struggling. We had a chance to reconnect with that encounter in Walmart. Quite frankly, I dropped the ball. I let down my first friend, again. Do you know how bad that can make someone feel?
When I ran into him (in Walmart again) months later my heart sank to the floor. I felt terrible for letting him down. At this encounter I informed him that my wife, Sarah, and I were moving across the country to California. He wished me luck and told me to stay in touch. While I haven't been doing the best job at staying in touch we have chatted a bit, but he called me the other day with some crushing news. And although I'm not there close to help him through it, I am a phone call away and he knows that. He told me during our last conversations that he can't even get friends that live right down the street to slow down long enough to talk to him. Yet, he can call me across the country.
That'll really pick you up when you've been a terrible friend the last 15 years. And while I hate with every fiber in me that he is having to endure what he is, I'm glad that he still has the confidence too confide in me and let me try to encourage him and hear him out.
I'm not sure if he will ever read this or not, most likely not, but if you do, you know who you are and I love you man!
Also, for the rest of you, sometimes it's a good thing to run in to people you know in Walmart!
