Buried Skeletons

from June 2008

My mom divides friends into two categories:

1) Friends

2) Friends Who Know Where All the Skeletons Are Buried

The second kind of friend is the one you hold onto. Its not at all that they've got something on you. I used understand it to mean that you have nothing to fear. They've seen you at your worse. You can't feel stupid or embarrassed around them.

But lately, I've come to realize its actually more than that. This occurred to me while sitting across the table with an old friend. He's one of those friends who knows all. The good, the bad, the ugly. Every last skeleton. And I know his as well.

What I think my mom really means by the phrase is that because they know your history, they really understand what is going on in your present. You don't have to relive some embarrassing or painful past experience to make your friend understand

You can even speak in half sentences and gestures and completely follow what they are trying to tell you. They get you.

When I've gone a few weeks or more without sitting face to face with one of these friends, once I am, it feels like I had just come in from out of a cold rain. I bask in the warmth and am so very grateful.

But the funny thing is, I hadn't realized until I've actually come out of the rain that it was actually raining.