This is about friends.
As I have gotten older, and maybe because of some things that happen from time to time in my life, I get into moods where I ponder the imponderable things that I might be better off just forgetting. No, maybe that last bit is not true. I would not ever want to forget everything, especially anything related to friends. For certain other parts of my life, I might make an exception and forget everything I thought I knew.
Last year around this time, I saw a greeting card in a shop downtown. The inscription on this card dealt with friends.
“Good friends help you to find important things when you have lost them… your smile, your hope, and your courage.” Doe Zantamata
I thought about that for a while because at a low point of my life, someone I did not yet know as a friend had smiled at me. And when this person smiled at me, it made me remember that I was still here, now.
Those things the quote mentions can be lost without realizing it. At the time I mentioned, I had not really made any realization of having lost anything, yet. And as I became friends with this person, I saw a way to find the items on this list, in time.
And that leads to something that this card leaves out. (Hey, it is just a card with limited space. I have a blog of space to fill.)
A good friend not only helps you to find these things you might have lost, your smile, your hope your courage– but they can also make you remember who you really are.
And maybe more importantly, who you could be. It is easy to forget that, too.
And this could all start with one simple smile from someone you do not yet know. That smile from my new friend gave me a lot to live up to. It made me want to be that person they saw.
And it also made me believe that I could become that person.
Memory is the Key 