Friendship, II

Internalizing how much someone means to you exemplifies the perfect friendship, no matter how they look or are. It seems that within our lifetimes, people come and go without much appreciation for the other in between, and when they do appreciate it’s for an immediate reason. Such an instance has happened in my life, where I befriended an amazing guy–but then his amazingness was all in his looks and not much else! It was then after a few years that I saw that in every turn of us being friends that he was genuinely a friend! It’s a success story then from here on out since we now have been friends for seven years, and counting!

Being born into a Minority Group, I discovered-with his help- that I liked befriending and learning about people of other nationalities, and where suffice to say this friend in question hailed from Ukraine. In my never ending pursuit of finding out more about other cultures then, two of my weekends ended up being Eastern European and Balkan-ed themed, with a weekend surprisingly being that I would have two chance meetings with him! My friend immigrated to the United States in his early teens, and for one of our encounters I attended his Mom’s art show. Testifying to the following day’s “Ethnic Festival”, Eastern Europe and the Balkans (as well as other regions of the world) are both traditional and modern in their culture and societies, with his Mom reflecting the traditional aspect at her show. Known as either Hohloma or Khokhloma, this primarily Russian form of art that she specializes in is earthy in color and material, for nature-ly subjects are painted on wood.

My first impression of my Ukrainian Friend-Dude was that he was goofy, as he was never at a loss for projecting humor! His general warmth drew me towards him, and then-alas- it was the looks. He taught me strength and self-confidence like no one else had, as once at a team building activity he “left me stranded alone” at a balancing activity in which we had to walk on a log to the other side. He was most certainly there guiding me and my otherwise poor sense of balance but also intended that I should be centered, get balanced, and then get to the other side. When his turn came to cross, he was once again his silly self as he went forwards- backwards- and every which way, and then to the other side! Moments like this defined his caring self towards me (and to anyone else who saw it), and where he was truly my friend. By no means am I saying that he is my only friend that has ever single-handedly helped me in life, but that he is the first male friend that has done it all! I have after all had crushes on guys before my friend came onto the scene, but like mentioned before–they came and went without much thought! In carrying out my life then, I’m seeing that true happiness is a game of chance–that you could get happiness first, and good looks later!