Today I'm linking up with the Five Minute Friday community, writing for five minutes on a given prompt. This week's word is BE.
***
Jonathan's been attending Extend-a-Family day camp for the past few weeks, as he has every summer (except 2020) since he was about six. Every Tuesday this summer they walk to the park and spend the day at the splash pad.
This past Tuesday at the park they were very surprised and delighted to meet up with Jonathan's friend Nick, whom he's known ever since they were little campers together at EAF. Nick now lives in a different town, and they haven't seen one another in over three years.
I wasn't there, but their encounter was captured in a few photos that Nick's grandmother sent me. This one is my favourite.
and camp counselor Lewis (green hoodie).
The joy of their reunion is unmistakable. They laughed, they played with each other's caps, and they laughed some more. Nick is nonverbal, but he and Jonathan did not need to use words to communicate how happy they were to see each other again. All they had to do was BE.
It's rare to find friendships that are just based on the joy of BEING. Often we think friendship must involve shared activities, beliefs, or life stages ... or that it requires seeing the friend a certain number of times a year ... or that we have to reciprocate invitations and pay back favours so everything is even. Some influencers even tell us -- especially in light of Covid, which has caused us to rethink a lot of our priorities -- that we should curate our friend lists to eliminate anyone who doesn't add value, who doesn't help make us The Best Version of Ourselves.
Jonathan and Nick help remind me that none of that is essential to a good friendship. Just being together and delighting in one another is all that's required.
