My journey making a new friend, my struggle to balance friendship and a brotherly bond. These are my invaluable experiences. This blog is intended to organize my feelings as I begin my friendship with my new little, who I will call Tommy for the purpose of this blog.

My friend gave me a jar to put on my shelf where I could place my most valued ideas. I should just screw off the top and there in I would plop all of my thoughts. They would cascade into this jar of mine, whirling and spinning around.

But before I could twist off this top to plop my very own opinions and ideas, I had to listen to my friend’s thoughtless thoughts. For his are grossly graver than any wishes of miniscule me. Twist went the lid and out he let slid all what could have been my precious impressions and aims. Then all that I knew was what he put into my jar of a friend’s ideas.

On my shelf it now sits with the crumbling cork covering what I could never put in. My abandoned eyes gaze with an unworried head haze fixed on this sated jar. Shallow and silly it seems nay knowing ones own dreams. I’m watching others’ dreams spinning and twirling on my shelf in a jar.


Friday, February 19, 2010

Week 5: Catch Outside

College. I know this word. To me the word college is tangible, manageable. For Tommy, college is a daunting goal. We discussed college a lot today while throwing around the pigskin. We moved our conversation outside, a nice recess from the musky gymnasium that we usually talk and toss in. Being outside Tommy was much sillier, and more open. I could tell immediately how uncomfortable school was for him. The moment we walked through the doors and the unusual January heat hit his face, a rare smile stretched from ear to ear. I complimented his arm. He can throw it pretty hard for a seventh grader. “Good,” he said, “I’ll need it to get to college.” To Tommy, college is so distant and unrealistic that in his mind a higher education is only possible through sports. Soliloquy ensues. All about scholarship possibilities for hard work and financial need grants. I felt like someone who he trusted had never explained this to him. Hopefully, he will take this to heart. A first lesson, possibly. It was my birthday and I told Tommy that I was twenty years old. He immediately began comparing me to his brother, who he called a bum repeatedly. He explained that his brother was twenty too but wasn’t smart and didn’t go to college like me. He explained all the things he had been arrested for. I made a point to let him know that now he knew what not to do watching his brother’s mistakes. He seemed to take that to heart as well. A second lesson, possibly. Big Brothers Big Sisters is hosting a bowling party a week from this Saturday. Tommy has not stopped talking about it. He seems elated at the idea of hanging out on the weekend. I invited a group of my friends to come to the bowl to meet Tommy. Hopefully they’ll support our program. If Tommy could have any job in the world he would be a professional gamer. He asked me what I’d be. I said that I would probably like to be the host of Real Sports on HBO with Bryant Gumbel. He laughed. I hope soon he develops other passions other than video games and contact sports. I think that’s where I come in. I am going to take a more active role in his schoolwork, while still maintaining our friend-to-friend relationship. I hope he likes my visits. I know that I do I also hope that he is learning from me as I am learning from him.

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