~ Friendships ~

Throughout my life, I have been blessed with a massive diversity of friends. From scholars to self-proclaimed simpletons, my life has been enriched with their presence. I feel that friends are a connection of ones self. Someone that you don’t get amazed by, or indifferent to, just one that you feel an alliance with. Pavel Florensky said it best with….”friendship love knows a friend not by his outward pose, not by the dress of heroism, but by his smile, by his quiet talk, by his weaknesses, by how he treats people ordinary human life".

Recently, I found myself logging onto AOL and migrating to the Metaphysics chat room. After receiving a warm and astonishing welcome, I thought I’d stay a while. Now, six months later, I have become a habitual visitor to the room. Countless friends greet you with smiles, hugs, and kisses. Conversation that inspires intellectual stimulation, as well as some that requires little brainpower. (Those are the ones that interest me the most.)

I will take an adventure next summer, and participate in a gathering that will allow me to meet several of these people I call my metafamily. I’ve gotten to know them, some better than others, and I anticipate that my visual pleasure will be as grand as my typographical appreciation.

To all of my friends….

From quiet homes and first beginning,
Out to the undiscovered ends,
There’s nothing worth the wear of winning,
But laughter and the love of friends.

Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953)