We went to two games in a row last week. I'll take the first one (and the good one) first. At the Sox Angels game, we had these amazing seats in the first row right behind the visitor's dugout.
There was this cute Japanese couple behind us with some friends, and partway through the game, their teenage kids, who must have been sitting farther from the field, showed up and took over their seats. I loved hearing those friends talk. They were having so much fun, taking so much pleasure in being in these amazing seats together. They were joyful about the view ("Sweet skyline, dude") and every other moment. Instead of trying to get beer, they were excited about their ice cream in a baseball hat bowl and how they'd lord the experience over their friends by eating cereal out of the hats the next day in their boarding school cafeteria. They knew they had to call their dorm parent to report in, and they put it off as long as possible just to enjoy every minute of being outside and watching this amazing game.
To the right of us were another generation of friends, two older gentlemen. They too were joyful in the moment. They rose to applaud key plays. They shouted out their advice. They indulged in everything - gleefully sharing a big box of Cracker Jack.
Sitting at the game with these friends at first made me think about my girl friends. I have a close group, and it changes and shifts from time to time as our lives change and shift. I wonder who I'll be friends with when I'm older. I can't get those dorm room days back, but who will share my ballpark Cracker Jacks years and years from now?
These friendships are important to me and always have been. But I realize that what matters to me even more than finally getting the Sex & the City foursome of my dreams, is the friendship I have right here at home. What I want with my s/o is not just that talk of s/he's my best friend, but everything that comes with it - the loyalty, the there-for-you-ness, and the kindnesses. The daily kindnesses of friends. That ability to know when a person needs a boost and to give it. The ability to root for the other person. The ability to be tender. The ability, no matter how delicious they are or how starving you are, to share the Cracker Jacks with a smile.
