A Friend - inspired by Keno's "A Friend"

With apologies to "keno's A Friend"

"I've still been searching, and long have i waited for someone to like me as me, to laugh with, to cry with, to be just beside with, a friend --- that's who I need
To fight with, make up with, to know that you need them, believing that they need you too, to walk hand-in-hand with, to be just beside with, a friend --- that's who I need.
And even though I make mistakes and never do anything right,
A smile, a hug, can change a lot
And everything will be all right
Someone who shares all my dreams and ambitions, someone who will love me as me, I need this person, someone to rely on
A friend, that's who I need...."

From the time I heard the lyrics of this song, I have been attached to it. The words seemed to be just what I had been keeping inside me for so long. I don't know why friends are so important to me. Perhaps it's coming from a large family and an even larger clan. Friends would epitomize that I am myself, an individual, not just a member of a group, a part of a set.

These past 15 years or so in my life have brought me so much joy, pain, hurts, laughter, tears, I think i've been through the whole gamut of human emotions in this period. On top of and underneath it all, there is also peace, serenity, that comes only with acceptance. Of realities. Of truths that can have different perspectives. Of myself and my being. Of me and my God.

In this 15-year journey that I had travelled, I chose my own path several times. I took paths popularly travelled. I took paths seldom used. I made my own paths. There were dark and cold times. There were also times that I was awash with light and warmth. There were rough, stony, uneven paths. There were smooth, flowing ones.

I walked. I ran. I rested and moved on. I stumbled, got up, moved on. I lost my bearings, regained them, moved on.

With friends. Because of friends. They come in all colors, sizes, shapes, characters, languages, religions, politics, classes, ages, genders, sexual orientations. Some are related to me by blood. Some by proximity. Some by association - in class, in organizations, in professions, in affiliations.

Our friendships may have one or more dimensions. We may see each other often. Or have not seen each other in decades. We communicate often, on occasion, intermittently, when the need arises. But we know that we are there, for each other, when the need arises. Or just because.

I read somewhere, that relationship is not so much as finding the right person as BEING the right person. I believe that the friendships that I made, especially those that have stayed, been revived, been re-born in another dimension, are there because I a friend to them, too. Or at least I've always tried and still do try to be. And they know that.

Friends not only travelled with me on this journey. They also made me see, see more, much more --- to life, to living, to myself. By liking me as I am, I learned to like myself too.

The journeys we take in life have rough spots impossible for us to go through as humans, where only angels can help us. That's another facet of God's love for us humans. He gave us friends --- who are actually angels without wings.