Earlier today, I ended up in a familiar neighborhood of Provo. As I was walking down the sidewalk, I saw a friend of mine I hadn't seen in a while--he was across the street, talking to someone. I kept walking, not sure who he was talking to and not wanting to interrupt. To my surprise, he saw me and gave me an enthusiastic wave. I took it as an invitation. When I got across the street, he gave me a big hug and immediately integrated me into the conversation. At its conclusion, we walked back to his house. Even though he was getting ready for a ward event, he still took the time to talk to me, and asked about my life! He even remembered silly details from the last time we talked. I inquired about his life, too, and we had a very pleasant conversation. He even gave me Mini Wheats! I LOVE Mini Wheats! He sent me home with a whole back of them. We had an excellent discussion about food, and he let me brag a bit about my English placement test results--without making me feel awkward or anything! I love that he is honestly supportive and enthusiastic for other people. I'm sure I'm not the only one--he just makes people feel like they are awesome, and they do awesome things, so why shouldn't we all just share how awesome we are?? He's not threatened or self-effacing. He just builds people up. (Unless you're an idiot. Then he'll tell you so....but mostly so that you can fix it...or go away. :-) )Seriously, though, he defended me to non-present foes when I shared a "somebody did this and it bugged me" anecdote, and he even defended me to myself a couple of times. He has opinions, but wants to remain well-informed and likes listening to people.
Anyway, the whole "event" was only about 45 minutes. But I felt so great. ^_^ I felt appreciated! I felt important! I felt blessed! AND I felt like I was going to have a really yummy breakfast of gifted Mini Wheats tomorrow morning.
As a side note, I appreciate that this man friend also appreciates food. It makes me feel less crazy when I mention lamb-burger with feta and spinach, on ciabatta, with garlic aioli...like that is a totally normal topic of conversation. He isn't a "chef," per se, but he has a ton of sous chef experience and definitely appreciates good food.
Such a short but comprehensive friend interaction was exactly what I needed to recover from my weekend.
I am so blessed to have such good friends. I forget a lot.
And it's good to know that lamb burgers (with an appreciative fellow foodie) are somewhere in my near-ish future.
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