fiwit's blog: A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss - or Does It? Celebrating Friendships

<p>Sometimes even rolling stones find a place to gather moss. Something stops the forward momentum of the stone, and it settles itself into a soft spot in the earth that seems  custom-made for it, and the earth fills in around it, solidifying its non-moving position.  It might start rolling again at some point, if the forces of nature are strong enough, but if it does, it will carry with it the bits of moss and earth it picked up during its stop.</p>
<p> When I was a rolling stone, moving from one home to another with the Air Force, San Antonio was the place that stopped my momentum. I would never have dreamed that could happen.  For one thing, I loved the different places the Air Force would send me. Also, born and bred in the Midwest, I loved winter and was convinced I could never live in the south. Not only did they barely have any winter, but their summers were ungodly hot, and I have never been a fan of hot weather.</p>
<p> But the USAF program I wanted to join was only in San Antonio , so off I went into the land of mild winters and absurdly hot summers.  I arrived on New Year’s Eve 1988, and while January 1989 began with 70 degree days, by the end of the month,  we were dealing with an ice storm that closed our base for at least a day.</p>
<p> When I moved here, I knew exactly one person, a friend I had met at my base in Belgium.  Somehow this sprawling overgrown small town in south central Texas inextricably tangled itself all through my heart, and for the first time since college, I started putting down roots.</p>
<p> I spent eleven of the best years of my life in San Antonio,  not leaving until my civilian job relocated me to the Atlanta area. When I moved, I left behind friends who felt like family. Ten years later, they still feel like family.</p>
<p> I’m in San Antonio as I write this, sitting at a Jim’s Coffee Shop and drinking decaf while I wait on a friend to join me. The good folks at Jim’s don’t mind if you sit here for three hours drinking coffee. That’s one of the reasons I love them. When I lived here, Jim’s was my “office away from the office.”  They don’t have Wi-Fi, but back then, no one needed or wanted Wi-Fi, so it didn’t matter.  It’s a standing joke with my friends that we’ll go to Jim’s at least once while I’m in town.  I arrived about 4 hours ago, and this is my second Jim’s today.   </p>
<p> Some things never change, I guess.  I wish the same could be said for San Antonio. My little over-grown small town is a city now. Yes, it’s always been one, but now it looks and feels like one.  Especially the highways. As a child, the appeal of Dr Seuss’ HooberGloober Highway book was the absurdity of it. Nowadays, it seems every major city has their own version o fit, and San Antonio is no exception.</p>
<p> But that’s OK. Thanks to my friends, I don’t have to learn how to navigate these new roads;  all I have to do is ride along, and close my eyes if the road starts heading into the clouds. Which brings me back to my original point - my friends.</p>
<p> As I said, when I moved here in 1988, I knew one person (who no longer lives here).   Today, as I contemplate how to spend the four days I have here, my biggest challenge is finding time to see all the friends I want to see, for a long enough time-frame to *really* visit and catch up with each other’s lives.</p>
<p>I’m celebrating friendship this weekend, with friends who know all my darkest secrets and still love me. Friends who don’t mind that I don’t keep in touch, because they know that I’ll contact them when I’m in their area, and I know that they’ll be as glad to see me as I am to see them.</p>
<p> San Antonio is a heart-home for me, the first one since college. My friends are the reason for that. And like that rolling stone that stopped and then started rolling again, I carry them with me; not as bits of moss and earth stuck to my outside and able to be rubbed off, but as cherished treasures in my heart.</p>

( No account? Join now! )