“What is so rewarding about friendship?” my son asked, curling his upper lip into a sour expression. “Making friends takes too much time and effort, and for what?”
I sat on the edge of his bed, understanding
how it might seem simpler to go at life solo.
“Friendship has unique rewards,” I told him. “They can be unpredictable. For instance...” I couldn’t help but pause to smile crookedly
at an old memory that was dear to my heart. Then I shared with my son an unforgettable
incident from my younger years.
“True story. When I was about your age, I decided to try
out for a school play. Tryouts were to
begin after the last class of the day,
but first I had to run home to grab a
couple props for the monologue I planned
to perform during tryouts. Silly me, I
had left them at the house that morning.
Luckily, I only lived across a long
expanse of grassy field that separated the school from the nearest
neighborhood. Unluckily, it was raining
and I didn’t have an umbrella.
“Determined to get what I needed,
I raced home, grabbed my props, and tore back across the field while my friend
waited under the dry protection of the school’s wooden eaves. She watched me run in the rain, gesturing for
me to go faster while calling out to hurry up or we would be late.
“The rain was pouring by that time which was added reason for me to
move fast. I didn’t want
to look like a wet rat on stage in front of dozens of fellow students. Don’t ask me why I didn’t grab an umbrella
from home—teenage pride or lack of focus, I’m not sure—but the increasing rain
combined with the hollering from my friend as well as my anxious nerves about
trying out for the play had me running far too fast in shoes that lacked any tread.
“About a yard from the sidewalk
where the grass was worn from foot traffic and consequently muddied from the
downpour of rain, I slipped and fell on my hind end. Me, my props, and my dignity slid through the
mud and lay there, coated. My things
were dripping with mud. I was covered in
it. I felt my heart plunge, and I wanted
to cry. I probably would have if it
hadn’t been for the wonderful thing that happened right then. My crazy friend ran over and plopped herself
down in the mud beside me. She wiggled
in it, making herself as much a mess as I was.
Then she took my slimy hand in hers and pulled us both to our feet. We tried out for the play looking like a
couple of swine escaped from a pigsty, laughing the whole time. I never did cry, thanks to my friend.
“So yes, my dear son, friendship has its unique rewards—priceless ones.”
This story is from the book, Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year, by American author and poet, Richelle E. Goodrich