Laughter

“So anytime somebody needs you, don't let them down. Although it grieves you, someday you’ll need someone like they do, looking for what you knew,” Friends, Led Zeppelin

If you are lucky, you will have that one friend that no matter what is going on will make you laugh. I am blessed to have just this friend. A friend that understands my particular brand of crazy like no other. The friend that can talk me down when I am going off the rails, pull me up when I am just too much in my own head, and bring me back all with laughter.

I met this friend in high school art class. Not sure why exactly I was in art since drawing is not my talent, although I do draw a mean stick figure. Come to find out, she wasn’t too keen on seeing me in that class. She told me years later that when I walked in she thought “Oh god, Kitt is in this class, she is so stuck up.” Funny how small towns work, she had already heard untrue things about me. I sat down at the table she was at, nervous since I didn’t know anyone, and struck up a conversation with her. Well within minutes we were friends and everything we thought we knew about each other was proved wrong. Pays to let people make their own conclusions about others, remember that. Through high school and into college, go Blue Hens, we remained close. I introduced her to my world and she did the same for me. Boy do we have some stories.

After college we went separate ways and grew apart. It was no one’s fault, it just happened. We were young, figuring out our way in this world, and we just didn’t see each other as much. We always deeply cared for each other, but we had separate lives.

Fast forward to a couple years ago when I receive a phone call from her. As soon as we started talking, the friendship was back. That call lasted hours and we have been close ever since. We filled each other in on our lives and started regularly hanging out. There was no need to bring up the past and why we lost contact, it was no one’s fault. The era of our really long phone dates, that still continue to this day, was underway.

At that time she needed me. Things were not going her way and she was lost. We helped each other, we were there for each other the whole time laughing. We always had laughter, which indeed is the best medicine. Years pass and things improve. She meets a wonderful guy, gets married and begins her life. That new life resulted in her moving away but distance can’t break this bond.

We went through a rough patch last year, I hurt her, she hurt me, but the friendship was too strong to end. We worked it out, and back to new.

Jump to today, my life is in shambles. I am lost, scared and unsure. She was the first person I called and has been there for me ever since. She knows when I need to laugh, comforts me when I cry, and supports any crazy idea I may come up with. She sees me in a way I don’t see myself and always senses when I need to hear from her. Always the right thing to say.

This is by no means a dig to anyone in my life, I have the same love for you as I do her but every friend has that one thing special thing they bring to the friendship. Some bring history. Some bring blood. Some bring kindness. Some bring support. She brings laughter.

What does this friendship have to do with Laura Bush? Well I think no one else in this world sees the good in people more than Laura Bush. She knows which relationships are worth keeping, and which ones are not. She believes in everyone the way this friend believes in me. If you are lucky, find this person and hold on to them, you will need each other someday. What would Laura Bush do?