Miss you are the blog. Thank you for sharing a great story. Your friends should be so proud of you for your kind words about them. They sounds wonderful.

Let me tell you about my true friends, Rachel and Frances. These 2 girls are absolutely amazing in my life and I truly believe they were put in my life to show me what “BEST” friends are supposed to be.

I was at a low point in my life, dealing with coming out and getting used to it, dabbling with drugs (well, more than dabbling, I was almost dependent), drinking heavily, partying way too much, and losing my identity when by chance, I went to a birthday party for a friend of mine and met this amazing girl - Rachel. My tree-hugging, butterfly loving, amazingly talented artist, hippie of a friend. We started talking feverishly about our likes and dislikes, common traits and differences and just about everything you can imagine. By the end of the night I felt like I had met my equal on Earth. I was stunned. Shortly thereafter, Rachel and I began a whirlwind friendship (and I’m no longer friends with the person whose party I was at where I met Rach). We began e-mailing, conversing on the phone, hanging out and really getting to know one another, lacking all the pretentiousness that comes with trying to impress new people into liking you. Rachel saw past all that. She saw the inner me. She was tuned into my brain and soul somehow and could tell by the raise of an eyebrown, or a simple change in the way I held my lips, what I was thinking or how I was feeling.

Soon, Rachel invited me to a little dinner gathering of some random people I’d never met. I was excited to go, but little did I know that at that table, surrounded by margaritas, laughter, and cameras, would I meet a second portion of me - Frances. Frances, dear Frances. She’s prissy in the truest sense of the word. Wearing designer clothes, gaudy jewelry, and dropping the “r’s” from just about every word in her vocabulary. She’s truly a Southern belle. We didn’t realize it that night, but we were connected. A couple of weeks later, Rachel was having an art show (her 1st and super successful), in another town and it was decided that Frances and I would ride together (along with her husband). During this hour and a half drive to the show, Frances and I chatted NON-STOP about everything, while her husband just listened. This is when it happened. All of a sudden, Rachel, Frances and I were bonded. I realized in that car ride that Rachel was one side of me and Frances was the other.

Picture a line along a continuum with Rachel at one end and Frances at the other… I’m in the middle. These girls are completely opposite, but have so much in common and I fit perfectly between the two, almost as if grounding them to one another. It’s truly amazing to see us together. We could be in a room of 1,000 people and it’s as if no one else is around and we’re completely isolated from human existence.

Recently, I’ve started back to school full-time despite the verbal angst of my parents and siblings. Rachel and Frances supported me 100% in this decision and have encouraged me throughout the entire process. They never faultered for even 1 minute. They were there when no one else was. These are true friends and I’m truly blessed to have them in my life.

I could go on and on, but just realized that I’ve written ENTIRELY too much. But I wanted and need to share.

Have a good one!

~Chris

Quality not quanity.

An acquaintance is someone you deal with or work with, but not that close.

Friends are people who care about you, worry about you and are there when you need them and your there when they need you.