Friends
I don't think there's any secret to friendship. Sometimes you share an interest in something with someone and you spend enough time together that rough edges are ignored and friendship grows. Then there are time you just fall into it. One of my very good friends is the relative of the wife of a couple whom I know quite well and from the moment I met said relative, I knew we would be great, great friends.
Then there times you have yourself a friend and he or she says, "You have to meet my very best/very good/long time friend!" Of course you agree because, well, it's your friend that's saying it. But you worry about it. What if I don't particularly care for this new variable in the friend equation? But, face it, you have to meet the person.
This past weekend one of my dearest friends introduced me to her best friend. I was somewhat worried as we'd each heard a lot about the other and one can't always live up to a mental image formed by one's very own PR person (the mutual friend). After saying all that, I have to say that I had one of those superior experiences where everything my friend said about her friend was borne out in spades. In clubs, diamonds and hearts for that matter. I hope the same can be said of me but let me tell you, there is a word for people like my new (ha!) friend: delightful. We live in different time zones so it's not like I'm going to be hanging out with them but I'm willing to bet that they'd be OK with me doing so. Not all the time of course. But a lot of the time, yeah.
It's a mitzvah. And I made it a point to be grateful in church on Sunday.