Monday, January 12, 2009

Friends Believe in Each Other

Saturday night, some friends threw a party to celebrate my first poem being accepted for publication. Writers throw book parties or have post-reading get-togethers, but I have never ever heard of a party for a poem. I was skeptical and mildly embarrassed. I mean, after all this fuss over my first published poem, what if it proves to be my last? What will I say when all the gracious well-wishers find me sleeping in a box under the freeway using my first and last published poem as a blanket? "Thanks for that congratulatory beer back in '09. ...How 'bout buying a pity brew for old times' sake?"

Still, having thrown parties with flimsier premises (State of the Union address drinking games, prime number birthdays- the list goes on), I would be a hypocrite to poop this one. If I am called upon to be an excuse for a party, I would be a sorry friend not to report to duty. Several people even drove in from out of town, and we caroused* from 6 p.m. until, um, 2 a.m., I think. The details are blurry, alas, but these truths from the evening are clear:

Friends don't flatter; friends push you, because they know you are capable of more. Friends don't associate themselves with you for their own gain when you succeed; friends say "I told you you'd pull it off" and buy you a drink. Friends are not jealous of your success; friends revel in it as if it were their very own. And I have some effin awesome friends.

Feel free to shout out to the friends who have believed in you here. I just added sharing options in the sidebar, so they can see your adoring comments. Still working on getting the sharing options at the bottom of each individual post.

*Awesome Germanic etymology for my linguist peeps.

2 comments:

  1. Couldn't resist adding this quote from Justice League of America, in which Superman describes his friendship with Batman (which is still the greatest representation of true blue friendship ever depicted in any form of literature):

    "Your best friends are not the ones that are your equal, but the ones you see as your betters. It is their friendship that inspires you to become more than you are."

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