Embers of Friends
It always starts out the same way, two people meet and they are strangers. They might know a little bit about each other. They may know nothing about each other, but they hope to find a comrade out of the person they've met. It starts as a spark, the light of a new friendship, and it moves to become a small flame, warm and glowing. That flame grows and eats up the fuel we give it, our commitment. Once we lose our commitment to our friendship the flame dies out. It becomes embers that slowly fade into ashes.
I can see the light in his eyes, the burning desire. “Hey dude!” he says to me so enthusiastically. I'm awkward, and I don't really know what to say. I was never socially inclined, but I wanted to make a new friend. With my new found determination I managed a “heyy!” This was our first encounter, the flint strike. We were at Disneyland, and the friends we came with brought us together. We spent all day belligerently waiting in lines, and enjoying the rides. It was a lucky encounter to say the least. His spontaneous nature and fun-loving attitude is contagious. In those occasions that we would spend time together he drew out a new outgoing side of me. The fire had started, and we solidified that friendship through the years becoming closer and closer until we were inseparable.
The sun was rising as we laid side by side; flopped on the floor like cards on poker night, “I feel like we’re brothers.” So straightforward, but I liked it, he was the brother I never had. “Me too,” I guess I didn’t have much to say, but he didn’t mind. I wasn’t ready to sleep though, “it’s only been two years, huh?” “Yeah, only two years.. That’s crazy.” In only 730 days we found not only friendship but kinship. A closeness only felt from the connection of two carefree souls.
Burning strong and yet fading slowly, our friendship was faltering. There's no way to know why we were giving up on each other. Months dragged on, cold indifference burning us from the...