From: smccoy@dw3g.ess.harris.com (Scott McCoy)
Subject: On departing fiends...er...friends!
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 22:00:50 GMT
Reply-To: smccoy@dw3g.ess.harris.com (Scott McCoy)
Organization: Harris Corporation Information Systems Division
Keywords: For LF

I thought I would share this...


          A Friend Leaves - The Ties Stay 
		(by Dennis Rogers, from Crossroads)

          A good friend is hard enough to find, and a best
          friend is a treasure.

          You can have a lot of acquaintances and a few good
          friends, but a best friend doesn't come along that
          often.

          After all, you can only have one at a time, so they
          are valuable beyond all measure.

          You can't go out and look for a best friend because
          you'd never recognize one when you saw it. You can
          spot a pretty diamond or a good bird dog, but you
          never know what a best friend is going to look like.

          But when you find one, you'll know it.

          You'll know by the way that person makes you feel when
          you're together. Most of all, you are completely
          relaxed. A best friend doesn't care whether you win,
          lose, or make a fool of yourself or succeed beyond
          your wildest dreams.

          There is no pressure when you're with your best
          friend. Most of us have a wide streak of insecurity.
          We all want to be liked, and we try to do and say the
          right thing to make people like us.

          You don't have to try when you're with your best
          friend. It comes naturally. You don't have to try at
          all. You say and do what is really you, and that's
          what your best friend likes.

          I've been lucky because I have a best friend. We've
          known each other for nine years. For six of those
          years we have worked together.

          Neither of us planned to become best friends; it just
          happened. We knew all the same people and went to all
          the same parties and found out we both like the same
          things. We seemed to have a good time together.

          I like his taste in music. We both lived and died by
          the fortunes of the Tar Heel football and basketball
          teams. We shared occupations and Southern traditions.

          But don't get the idea that we agree on everything.
          The man knows not the first thing about good barbecue,
          preferring the Western North Carolina variety and
          (gag) he puts mayo on a hamburger.

          And he hates the Yankees.

          But he does like to sit around and talk until 3 in the
          morning as the beer supply gets lower and our insights
          scale to new intellectual heights.

          And he like kittens.

          We both learned to play golf at the same time, and he
          wins more than I do. I can take him at pool until he
          gets hot, but I blow him away on Galaxian. He thinks
          he's good at backgammon, but that's one I'll never
          concede.

          We are both highly competitive, but a funny thing
          happens when we play against each other: It doesn't
          really matter who wins. Oh, we bluster a lot, but
          losing to my best friend doesn't hurt a bit. We
          applaud each other's successes and gently tease the
          failures. We both win because we've been together for
          a while.

          We both have been fairly successful at what we do, and
          that's good because both of us take our jobs
          seriously. We both have the idea that our jobs are
          important and we both work hard at getting them right.
          We wouldn't have the same respect for each other if we
          didn't.

          Both of us have been through stormy times in our
          lives, and when those times came, the other always was
          standing by. We are not big on giving each other
          advice because neither of us is very big on taking
          advice. Mostly what we do is listen to the other
          person talk it out and find his own solution.

          My best friend has left Raleigh to move to another job
          in another state, but I don't fear for our friendship.

          I won't be surprised when a letter from him arrives in
          the mail, delighted but not surprised. And he won't be
          surprised when I call him up just to talk. Best
          friends rarely surprise each other like that.

          Best friendships can survive long distances. The next
          time we meet there won't be the searching awkwardness
          that comes when we re-meet old acquaintances. I'll
          walk into his new place, and I'll know which side of
          the refrigerator shelf he keeps the beer.

          When he comes to see me, he won't hesitate to open the
          fridge and ask me whether there is anything to eat in
          the house, although he knows where won't be.

          It will be great to see him again ... but in the
          meantime, I'm sure going to miss him.



---
Scott McCoy		| Who punched that tune?
Cheshire Cat		| Who hid the moon?
Official Back Scratcher	| Who made the dime store gypsy lie?
of the RFA		|	(Michael Franks)
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