Sunday, August 17, 2008

Day 16: Friends in Boston

This weekend I went to Boston to visit two of my best friends that I've had since first grade. I've really wanted other people to participate in this as well so I told my friends that they each had to pick a day and teach me something new. I have really brilliant friends who are so smart, experienced, and have had seen incredible things in their life so I know that there is so much that I can learn from them. Things got moving pretty quickly and we were busy catching up and being silly so a formal "teach Katie something new" didn't happen. But I did learn some really great things in the meantime. Let's start with storytime and the lessons following.


One of the friends that I was with this weekend is currently on crutches due to a foot surgery she has recently. We tried to keep our travel around the city to a minimum and when we did have somewhere to go we took cabs. But at times we walked a few blocks to get to where we needed to go and anybody that has ever been on crutches can tell you that going long distances suck. My friend was seriously SUCH a trooper though... she didn't complain at all, but at a few points when she asked to take a break. Both myself and my other friend offered to help out by giving piggy back rides!



This is a lot harder than when we were younger but both of us took turns hauling her around! Now, what I learned from this experience is that if you want to get attention and make friends on the streets of Boston, all you need to do is give your crutch-ed friend a piggy back ride. So many cars were honking and slowing down to yell out the window "WHAT A GOOD FRIEND!" or "THAT IS FRIENDSHIP THERE!" It really was quite hysterical. My friends and I are used to making a scene in public, as we did a few other points throughout the weekend. But at this time, we really weren't even trying, we were just trying to get from point A to point B in the most effecient way possible... which involved piggy back rides!


Through the day/night with my friends I also learned that I am not as good at relationships and keeping in touch with others as I thought. Sometimes I get really caught up with the "woe is me" mentality and while I'm not living in the same places as my friends, I get busy with my own life and only call my friends during MY times of need. The problem with that is that it doesn't give me the chance to check in with others and take the time to hear about THEIR problems and what is going on with them. I learned that the hard way for me and for my friends, who I should have been there for and because issues were brought up that I should have known about but didn't. The reason that I didn't know was because I didn't ask. I should know after over 15 years of friendship that some of my friends don't always reach out when they need help, as I do, but that doesn't mean that they won't respond when ASKED.

So some important things I'm taking out of this weekend is the knowledge of how to impress people and make some friends in Boston and that I need to take more time to make sure my friends are doing well instead of always thinking "woe is me".


Documentation of the piggy-back process below:




**** Also, please note the cardboard cutout of Papelbon in the window of the apartment beyond us. Have I mentioned that I love Boston?

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good entry Katie. Sounds like you guys did some heavy duty talking this weekend. Nothing like good friends! Where would we be without them? Mom

Anonymous said...

the fact that your mom posts comments is adorable. god, i love her.

poor erin...thank god for the piggy backing.

Courtney said...

i wish i could have been with you girls making scenes in boston!