“Happiness is having that one friend who calls you up out of the blue to find out how you are, listens a little as you jabber and indicate you were about to mow the lawn, and then shows up while you are mowing the lawn with all the ingredients for dinner, makes the dinner while you’re finishing the lawn, sets the table and uncorks the wine. This is my ideal friendship. Someone who just makes life just a little easier.” – Thomas John Ruter

Clarity appears as I read these lines.

Friendship is the light that sees through the fog of weakness and the dreadful melancholy that creeps in at times.

Friendship takes the long road; jagged, smooth, full of misinterpretations and reinterpretations.

It’s made of guts, bitches, and brats.  Always tough, fresh, and ready to tear down any and all.

Friendship is forever here; for life.

It is forever ready to share a glass, may it be just a strum or a full on-set orchestra of the day, the week, maybe the year.  It absorbs all the hugs and the laughs, kicking away all the troublesome folly, while taking your hand to begin the next day.

Friendship gives more than it ever takes, casting its light even when we sleep.

Friendship fills my heart completely.

Simply, friends are gifts that make life a little easier.

And Dearest Tom,

I am thankful how we met the first time and even more how we reconnected so many years later.  A truly unexpected gift.  You are such a kind, compassionate, and an inspirational man.