Whew...

It's been my distinct honor the last couple weeks to help a very dear friend with some very big issues. I've written extensively in this venue about how much being able to help friends means to me, and being able to help in this situation was particularly meaningful.

When the friend I get to help is someone who is so vitally important in my life (more family than friend, really), and the situation is something that is causing him a lot of stress and angst, being able to lift some small part of that from his shoulders gave me some feeling of purpose. And seeing how much happier he looks and much more lightly he carries himself over the last few days has been more than payback.

Not that it's been a one-way street, either. He's helped me incredibly dealing with a couple issues over the same time, and it's incredibly appreciated. Asking for help is not something that I do really well, so humbling myself a bit and asking for it and seeing that he was willing to help was one more small step toward breaking the mold of closing myself off from the world and beginning to really trust people.

I guess I'm just saying that it's good when friendships work the way they are supposed to work.