Hatchets & Sweet Tea

Last weekend, I spent some time with a couple friends that I met while enrolled at college. They're lovely people that moved perhaps 18 months ago to a better job, a nicer house, and a coastal town. Together, the three of us spent the fat portion of that drizzly Sunday afternoon exchanging jokes, snapping snapshots, crisscrossing all around downtown, and eating at a barbecue chain. I drank southern tea and ate chicken wings with brown sugar. They drank Cokes and had sandwiches with garlic bread in lieu of white, wheat, rye, or pumpernickel.

After dinner, I departed from them with a full heart. And stomach.

Our relationship has not always been this way; in fact, there have been several occasions where I violently spouted obscenities at him. Several occasions. Violent obscenities.

My friend. His wife. And we had wonderful last Sunday together.

What mended relationships? How are we in a good place again?

(1) humility
(2) time
(3) honesty
(4) real attempts, however thwarted and feeble they may be, at having some objectivity
(5) love.

Last night, I formally buried the hatchet with another person. It was like taking the first pain-free, deep breath after being held underwater; instantly, I recognized that it was over. The spell was lifted. The surface broken. The breath finally taken.

I enjoy enjoying people. I like being hopeful.
Thinking quite badly of people can be the godawfullest thing.

I am again reminded of my friend's words, "Get over yourself." More and more, I understand them anew each day.

Admit we're all douche bags. Forgive someone. Live life with others. Love everyone.