Goodbye June

We all know that time flies when you're having fun. We've all experienced those moments where we're loving our summer break, spending hours upon hours with our closest friends, and making memories that will last us a lifetime. The times we spend playing four square, lounging out at le spot, golfing, bowling, watching movies, staying up late talking... these are the times we enjoy the most. Before we know it, they're fleeting shadows of past memories that fade with time, yet never fully vanish.

And then there are those summers that are completely taken over by work. Whether we work outside in the heat of the day for a plumber, check people into a hotel, or add up a customer's bill in the checkout line at Fareway, we all know what it's like to have work take over our lives. We realize that our schedules clash, our free time doesn't line up. We don't have the luxury of seeing our friends as much as we would like to. Some of us don't see our friends at all. We get fleeting chances that allow a glimpse of what it used to be like "back in the day," but then it's time to go home and sleep before work the next day. We've never been this busy before and it takes time to adjust to this new "lifestyle." Work becomes the norm and friends take a backseat, even though we try our best not to let that happen.

Well, this is one of those summers. It feels like we've done nothing but work, which seems to go really slow. But then we look at the calendar and find that June is now over! We've spent time together, sure, but in reality, those moments have been few and far between. July starts tomorrow. Our summer is now half over. Before you know it, it will be the end of July and we'll only have a few weeks left together. Then we'll be packing everything up once again and heading off to start yet another year of school.

It is for this reason that I encourage everyone to find time for those you love. Those special people in your life that you find irreplaceable. They mean the world to us and we wouldn't be who we are today without them. Instead of thinking that the summer is half over, think of all the time left to spend with all of your friends. Think of all the things you haven't done yet that you can still accomplish in this second half of the summer. Do something crazy. Do something daring. Do something unique. Spend time talking about the future. It's a scary topic, yet one that can be conquered in the confidence of your closest friends. Get to know each other more than you ever have before, for it is these relationships that will last us all a lifetime. "...That way, when their bodies leave, they won't." It was my Facebook status for a time, and now I'm using it here. It's a great quote.

Bring on July!

"All By Myself"

It's been said that Joey and Chandler were an inspiration to all best friends around the world. I truly believe that statement. This is my favorite show of all time and this link is a tribute to all of those best friends out there: how we simply wouldn't be the same if they weren't in our lives. How they make us happier than any other person in the world. This is what my life would be like without you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilIwu1NTxqs&feature=related

Inspiration

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about - don't deal in lies -
Or being hated - don't give way to hating -
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

*Rudyard Kipling

May It Never Die

I met you when I moved to town,
A small and frightened boy,
When I walked through that door at school,
Feeling no happiness or joy.

Your eyes joined many in that room
As they looked me up and down.
I froze on the spot and could not move
Since every face had a frown.

Or so I thought since I was so young,
A scared little boy of nine.
While really the situation was much less dire
And a code red dilemma was fine.

Yet still I remained very quiet and still
For fear wouldn't let me proceed.
It took a little prodding and some kind, gentle words
For my movement to finally succeed.

Those first couple days were hopelessly lost
In a sea of confusion and doubt.
I refused to speak, I didn't have any friends -
Some days I just wanted to shout!

Yet God is good in every way
For in time He brought you to me.
A reason to hope was born into my life
And my eyes that were blind could now see.

We grew up apart, living in two separate worlds,
Galva mine, Holstein your own.
We liked different things. Hobbies changed with the times.
Then into each others' paths we were thrown.

We still weren't alike but we sure didn't care
For one thing we shared like two kings:
The band room was ours, our kingdom of might,
And we ruled it as emperors on wings.

We hovered above our kingdom with pride,
Watching it grow stronger each day.
We led it with skill, our shoes too big to fill,
Making more and more allies on the way.

Our three other friends who shared in our reign:
Three queens that ruled graceful and true.
From the flute section they played their soft, flowing notes.
Instruments made music that flew.

But then we were done. Graduation was here.
We left after a summer of fun.
For one, college reminded of memories lost
For the other, of victories won.

We communicated all year, for we'd grown very close
Thanks to car rides and hide-and-go-seek.
Those nights we spent talking about all kinds of things
Made us stronger, our futures less bleak.

We don't always agree, but what if we did?
Our friendship would be boring and dull.
One personality would fail to compliment the other.
Emotional wells wouldn't be full.

We motivate, understand, and generally support
Each other in our actions and deeds.
The one picks the other up off of the ground,
And on his positivity he feeds.

The one on the ground showers the other with praise,
For his spirits get lifted each day.
He's come to the understanding that his friend is much more
Than a person to help along the way.

The other is strong, unbelievably so,
With power beyond even his own imagination.
He believes in the good of every human being,
Every part of God's good creation.

Because of these traits, we make one heck of a pair,
For we strengthen each other in many ways.
What one doesn't have, the other holds plenty:
In this cycle our friendship stays.

Some say that we are two peas in a pod
But with this statement I disagree most strongly,
For there are many, many things about this relationship
That some compare most wrongly.

Yet we're the closest of friends, inseparable at times,
And forever our friendship will last.
For we know that forever one will be there for the other.
In the future it will be as in the past.

So here is to all the great times that we've had
I'm grateful every day for someone like you.
May we never forget one another in time
And may our friendship ever hold true.