Had coffee with my buddy T the other day. First time in a while.
Met him about three years ago when I hired him to do some work on my house. Somewhere along the way he stopped being just the guy who fixed things and became a friend. Guess it happens like that sometimes. You don't plan it. It just happens.
We meet up every couple of weeks usually. Sometimes at my house. Sometimes at the McDonald's down the road. I don't drive so he accommodates that. Never makes it weird. Just shows up.
With Kim and I being down and out lately it's been longer than usual since we got together. I looked forward to seeing him again.
We talk about everything. Sometimes it gets deep. He had a rough childhood. Struggled with substance abuse until a few years ago. I've got my own mental health challenges. He's a veteran too. So we've got that in common.
We don't always go heavy though. Sometimes we just talk about life. Raising kids. His are still at home but getting ready to leave the nest. That's a whole thing. Watching them grow up and wondering if you did enough to prepare them for the world.
There's something about having a friend who's been through some shit. You don't have to explain yourself. You don't have to pretend everything's fine. You can just be honest. Talk about the hard stuff without judgment. Or not talk about it and just drink coffee and bullshit about nothing.
We always seem to feel a little better and a little lighter after we get together. That's worth something. More than something. That's rare.
Good friends are hard to find. When you've got one you hang on to them.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Notes:
-All content is mine unless otherwise annotated.
-Images are my own unless otherwise noted.
-Photos edited using Linux photo editor and drawing and/or iPhone SE.
-Page Dividers from The Terminal Discord.