We just finished booking a September weekend to go to Vegas with the 'Dallas Crew' and that always makes me think about friendships. Ilene and I have been blessed to have met so many wonderful people throughout our lives, both individually and collectively.
I think friendship is also a function of where you are in life. Today, we find friends in different ways than just a few years ago. As a couple we now meet friends through our kids, and maybe some other random sources like our synagogue, American Jewish Committee or National Black Arts Festival, but basically it's the kids - who they are school with, play sports with or go to camp with. Personally, it's been really good. When we first got back to Atlanta we struggled to find the niche between the friends we had left 6 years before and new ones. Now, being back almost 5 years we've settled in. I can't say we have a group that we pal around with like we did in Dallas, but we do have a nice set of friends.
All of this got stirred from the, "It's time to go to Vegas e-mail". We LOVE our friends from Dallas. All the right things came together to form this great group: we had just gotten married, were in a new city, Ilene had a new job, and BAM - you have 4 or 5 couples that just bonded. Now this is big, the bonding, because the girls could all like each other or the guys could all be pals but that every one liked every one else was cool. We all don't even like the same things for the most part. As guys we all bond over sports, mostly pro and college football. The great part though is we all root against each other for the most part. Being from Philly I can't stand the Cowboys and vice versa, and don't even get started with Collegiate Athletics, there is me the GATOR (and owner of the last 3 big sport National Champions), a Maryland Terrapin, A Golden Domer from Notre Dame, a Longhorn and a Penn Quaker (ok, he went to an Ivy, no sports but he did sing in the Glee Club). I love these guys and can't wait to see them in September for what will amount to 48 hours.
It's close to same dynamic I have with my 5 or 6 closest guy friends from my childhood in Florida. We all moved to South Florida right around 5th-6th Grade. They all from New York but everyone has their issues in life :). We all had our own but things they have become my closest friends. We have lived together in college and after in some cases. We have shared in the losses of parents, the joys of marriages and children. If I picked up the phone this instant and said I need you they would be on the first plane out.
I think I am developing those same things here in Atlanta on an individual basis. It's a good feeling. I also realize though that all of the 'other' things will come into play. Can guys in there late 30's early 40's develop the same friendships as teenagers? Can I fit into a group that might already be established or will I circle the outskirts like a planet revolving around a star?
We'll see, but in the meantime I'm psyched for Vegas and locally I look forward to my weekly poker game, golf with whoever lets me join them and all the other places we interact with friends.
Like I started, we are blessed.
G
No comments:
Post a Comment