Friendship

The stage of the Saxon Pub in Austin Texas

I’d be such a slug if left to my own devices, sitting home, reading, watching TV, piddling. But luckily, I’m covered up with friends who do things and often invite me along. Last night was just such a case. Got an invite to join a friend downtown at a club to watch an artist we both enjoy. We met for dinner beforehand and had a fine talk. Carl Jung came up in the conversation which says something nice about the caliber of my friends. They’re well read.

There was a time when I thought I was well read, but I think my opinion of my learning is roughly similar to that of a talented high school or collegiate football player who discovers what it’s like to play in the NFL. There are bigger, stronger, faster, smarter people in the world. People who actually speak and read multiple languages rather than dabble in them. People who quote Dostoevsky, Jung, and any number of poets. People with really advanced degrees from good schools who didn’t take ten years to graduate.

Be that as it may, however, I’m still invited along and I go because it’s fun hanging out with smart, intelligent people, people who do things, because I learn things and meet musicians I’d have never met and hear about books I’ve never read and hear about places I’d like to go. And they invite me there, too. To places, to meet other people who know and do things. And boy, you talk about a virtuous cycle, that’s it. My life is infinitely richer than I ever imagined it would be simply because people have offered me their hand in friendship and I was smart enough to take it.