On the Meaning of Friendship

There is this gentleman that I associate with through my work.  I am pretty positive that I have never in my born days met an individual more tirelessly self-promoting.  I've pretty much come to the conclusion that this dude is incapable of carrying on a conversation without drawing attention (multiple times) to who he knows, what he's done, where he's been, how awesome he is; you get the idea.  Now, where I come from, this is considered bad form.  Very bad form.  Needless to say, I've been...underwhelmed by his acquaintance.

Something interesting happened the other day, though.  As a bit of backstory, I am working with this man because of a rather large project we are mutually involved in - a project that is, shall we say, a bit of a personal renaissance for him.  In other words, it's a pretty big deal.  So, between the personality and the project, you can imagine my surprise when I received a terse email from him stating that an emergency had arisen and he would be unavailable for several days, possibly until further notice.  Under the circumstances, it was shocking, to say the least.  

Come to find out, an old friend had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given just days to live.  Upon hearing the news, Mr. X dropped everything, cancelled meetings, extricated himself from the center of the action, and went straight to the bedside of his friend.  Not to drop by and pay his respects, but to stay by her side until the very end, simply because she wanted him to.

Frankly, this little episode made an impression on me that has stayed with me ever since.  Here's this guy - busy, big, important, living a life full of things to do, places to go and people to see.  And yet, somehow, when the call came from someone who needed him, he dropped everything, and was there.  Obnoxious, no doubt, but there.  Not a flower-sender or a card-mailer, a sympathetic phone call-maker or even a cash-donater.  He picked himself up and placed himself by her side, right where she wanted and needed him to be.  

It got me thinking about friendship.  What is it, anyway?  Is it having someone to shop with?  Go fishing with?  Is it Friday night couples dinner dates?  Is it someone who laughs really hard at the YouTube clips you post on Facebook?  Somebody who admires your new truck?  Maybe, it's all of these things, and a whole lot more - whatever it is that makes each of us single out another person and call him or her a friend.

I know for myself, though, I want friendship to mean more than that.  I want it to mean that my friends can count on me, through thick and thin.  To laugh with them, to cry with them, to cheer them on, to believe in them, to stand by their side, to hang on, no matter what life brings.  All the way to the very end.  And if and when that "I need you" call ever comes, I want them to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I will be there.

Furthermore, I do believe that to have a friend or three like that would make one the richest human being on the planet.  

Side note: In the interests of full disclosure, I do not regard this individual with the scorn I once did.

In Support of Food Trucks

Well, rather than writing a post about discrimination, injustice and race relations in the world today (which I am extremely tempted to do, I'll have you know), I am instead going to write a post about food trucks.

I've been meaning to write this post ever since I attended a Food Truck Rally in Gainesville last month.  Now, let me go on the record as saying that I am a big fan of the whole food truck movement.  In a nutshell, you have folks who are passionate about good food, preparing and serving it in a very accessible way.  Instead of stuffy restaurants with white tablecloths and big prices, you have a couple of people jammed into a space about the size of your average laundry room, maximizing very limited resources to create stuff worth eating, all at a price that us normal people can swallow without much heartburn.  That's the way it's supposed to work anyway.

This being North Florida, we're behind the curve a bit, as usual.  Still too much emphasis on snow cones, standard-issue sweet potato fries, and food service nachos, and generally, if I am going to order grilled cheese, I want it to be AMAZING.  That being said, I applaud the fact that we're at least trying, and for that reason, I'll do my darndest to get out there and support.

So what did we eat?  Well, we COULD have had pizza... popsicles... fish tacos... barbecue... lobster rolls (I do struggle with this one; guys, local, or at least localish, is REALLY, REALLY cool, and lobster is pretty not local here)... Pad Thai... And so on and so on.  There was even some culinary options for the canine members of society - doggie treats, doggie popsicles and doggie beer!  (The one dog I saw given the opportunity to partake of this particular product turned up her nose and backed away in disgust.)

What we DID have:

A nice, greasy, very tasty burger, soused in a spicy mayo plus curried ketchup and sandwiched between upside-down buns.  I liked it.  A lot.

There you see some quesadillas (for the girlies), fish tacos, and hand-cut fries (probably a little too greasy, but that didn't stop us from some major consumption)

And, because when you're a kid, they sound better than about anything else, snow cones.  My bad attitude melts when I see my girlies that happy.

Not pictured, the Korean sweet potato noodles my sister-in-law tried.  Not a fave, but kudos to the proprietor for making something interesting.

There is a bonus to all of this, too.  When you're in downtown Gainesville, the natural progression of things is to cap off the night at Sarkara Sweets, with a flight of cupcakes and a round or two of Uno.

Final verdict?  Food Truck Rally makes for a fun, relaxed outing, great for kiddos and easy on the wallet.  Plus, if enough of us show up and offer our support, maybe more food truck vendors will be inspired to get out there and really up their game.  Which would be a great thing, if you ask me.

You can follow Original Gainesville Food Truck Rally on Facebook for updates and to find out where the next events will be.  Word on the street is that there will be another one in September.

Oh, and I intend to give Two Fat Guys Burgers and Fries (Lake City's very own food truck!) a try just as soon as I can eat fun stuff guilt-free again.  (I'm going as fast as I can!)