Had lunch with Mark H today. It has been 8 months since the last time I saw him. We used to meet about every two months. For some reason, the last time we had lunch I interpreted an expression he when leaving that we weren’t going to be having lunch again—ever. So I never contacted him again about having lunch. Fortunately, he called me two weeks ago arranging for us to meet today.
Meeting with Mark went well. I don’t have many guy friends that I spend time with. Okay, there are two: Mark and Charlie. I have lots of women friends (although a big shortage of girlfriends).
We talked about gratitude and communication problems during lunch. As we were leaving, I ‘fessed-up to having read we’re breaking up/not hanging no more from his expression. I prefaced that by acknowledging that on a web-test of ‘guess the expression’, I got 3 out of 20 correct whereas my friend Tracy got 20 of 20 correct. I suck at recognizing facial expressions, yet I am more than willing to allow that to guide (mislead) me in some of my most important relationships.
Spent time with a new friend, Alice, today as we went to Costco to get pop and water for the Gratitude Dinner on Saturday. We bought just the right amount of pop & water. 9 cases later, we had completely filled the trunk of my car. Alice is 20 years old and has been sober for a year. She has a sponsor and worked the steps. That is light-years more together than I ever even considered being at her age with respect to dealing with substance abuse issues. An impressive young lady.
I am grateful that my friends today help protect me from myself along with my worst-case interpretation of expressions and events. I am also grateful for pleasant conversations with friends old and new.
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