For as long as I can remember I've always been very fortunate to surround myself with good friends.  My earliest memories of structured friendship began in the third grade.  I met a kid sitting next to me on the very first day of class, his name was Ben Rodway.  To this day I consider Ben one of my very best friends.  Unfortunately we've lost a little bit of a connection the last couple of years.  Ever since he returned home from the war in Iraq.  That's okay because we go through these spells in our life.  We'll go 3 or 4 years without talking and then the next thing you know we pick right up where we left off, without missing a beat. 

I became pretty good at cultivating friendships as I got older and have always tried to have a good core group of people around me who are positive and also like to stay connected.  About 10 years ago I started working very hard on the relationship element in my life, especially with the men in my life.

It gives me great pride to call someone a friend and in turn be just as good of a friend.  I believe friendships are a lot like crops.  You have to nurture them, pay attention to the elements and hopefully harvest many returns as you move through life.

I've always had a "best friend" but as of late that has shifted.  I have lots of best friends, with my wife leading the pack.  I describe a best friend as someone who brings contentment to your life.  Someone that you can just hop in the car with and take off down the road without even having to talk.  The silent energy that is created between both people is enough to fuel your happiness.


My dad always told me that if you have 2 or 3 really good friends in life you're lucky.  I've always had at least 10 people that I can say are some of my best friends.  I mean someone that you can confide in unconditionally.  Right now I think that number is about 12 or 13.  At any given moment I can pick up the phone and call one of these people and they'll listen to what I have to say, and I return the favor just as easy by listening or asking them about their day.

Sometimes I go through periods when I don't want to speak with anyone but that's a rarity.  Any given day I'll reach out to 25 or 30 people, just checking in to see how their day is going.  From a retrospective point of view I believe this is what keeps me going every day.  I get up in the morning thinking about all of the great things that could come my way....usually involving a friend or two.

 Chinese symbol for Friendship