Ode To Friendship [Just A Closer Walk With Thee]
I’ve had a brilliant close to 2009 and a brilliant opening to 2010. I am feeling damn good.
I saw out 2009, and welcoming in 2010, with my Mountain Man, a mate I have known for 27 years. A connection that was instantaneous when we were first introduced, and in our 27 years, we have endured a butting of heads, me falling in love with him, me projecting unfair expectations onto him, falling out and making amends. Along the way, we have always reaffirmed our friendship. He more than anyone, taught me what a man could be, that a man could be a three dimensional human being with feelings and emotions, and that I can be myself and still find unconditional love.
He has given me the most precious gift a human being could give another. He gave me the freedom [and the space] to be myself.
Many of my friends know of Mountain Man, and have never met him, but I always sing his praises. I sing the praises of all my friends. Anyway, on New Year’s Eve, and New Years Day, two of my friends Colleen and Damian, finally got to meet my Mountain Man, via webcam. Colleen met him first on New Year’s Eve, and she likes what she sees. She wants to bring him out of his shell. The next morning, Damian remarked, how at ease I am with him, and that I should live with him. Damian was also got treated to an impromptu display of my Mountain Man’s bass playing prowess.
I’m laughing as I recall Colleen, Damian and My Mountain Man putting faces to names, and Mountain Man’s shyness. And Damian got to feel a bit more connected with me and my life [Thumbs up mate!]
One of the most surprising affirmations I received on New Year’s Eve, was via an anecdote from my Mountain Man. We were talking about friends, love, aging and loss. He told me that a mutual friend had said to him, that he would never be alone. He has three people in his life, she said, who are constant; Martin [mutual friend from art college days], me, and herself. I was gobsmacked really. I know we are mates, I know that I am constant in his life, and I know that the only thing that will separate us is our respective deaths. To know that innately is one thing, but to have it acknowledged by outside forces is really, um, just like, fark, wow!
The Scarlett Tiger
I have never celebrated New Year’s Day itself, but yesterday I did. It wasn’t a celebration as such, but it felt like one. I met up with the Scarlett Tiger, and we ended coming to my place, where we were chatted, laughed, shared, reflected, and shook our heads, at life, love and the people we know. Our friendship is still young [six months], but what amazes me about her, is how hungry for the world she is. She is not constrained by stereotype. She is only 22. That’s right 22 years old, and busting to make her mark on the world, and make her life count. When my mate Gary saw a video of her on Facebook, he was gobsmacked. He said to me, “That girl has no hangs up about herself, at all!”
When I think about the women in my life, I think. “Yeah!” They are all strong women: Noreen, Colleen, Marnie, Alison, among others, like my rock stars. They are strong women who don’t set out to emulate men, but simply to be themselves, a lesson I am still learning. There is no mistake about why I am attracted to Suzi Quatro. Like the Scarlett Tiger, she has no hang ups about herself, at all!
Yesterday, the Scarlett Tiger asserted our friendship in a totally unexpected way. She said to me, something about seeing it through. About not wanting to be fairweather friends, but being friends for life, until death separates us. It looks better in Auslan, but take my word for it; there is no mistaking her conviction. This from a 22 year old!
At 48, I am starting to feel the generation gap. It becomes really apparent in some of the social circles I have been mixing in of late, mostly young people. However, there’s two young people that I am close to, and with whom I don’t feel my age when I am with them, the Scarlett Tiger whom I’ve already spoken about, and Joshua. Both young, and lack the experience that us oldies have, but both have this instinct that is not bound by social, cultural and time constraints. Joshua may be more hesitant than the Tiger, and I was more so than him, but he does have this instinct [for want of a better word] that I tap into. He too is a keeper.
If there is one person I need to thank for me being at the place I am today, it is my friend Alison Bryan. She was the inspiration behind my move to get off my arse and fix myself. She was the one who spoke to me about becoming a whole person again. She was the one who inspired me, and made me realise the energy I was expending by maintaining my disparate identities. She is the one who said that she is part of the furniture in my life. She is the one whose presence pervades my life, even the silences, which I like.
I am blessed with some really good people in my life. When I look at them, everyone I have mentioned here in this post, and everyone whom I haven’t mentioned, and when I think about them [and that is all the time, but you already knew that], I am reminded once again, as always, that there is good in the world, and they are the evidence.
[Whisper] The Scarlett Tiger knows what I got up to on New Year’s Eve. [Wink!] So does Colleen [she blushed] and ****** [I showed ya mate!]. Mountain Man does, cos he was with me 
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