So Og takes his family on vacation and just before they go he asks me to load the entries on the site every day while he’s gone. Sure, I’m happy to do that, that’s what friends are for, no?

Except . . . here’s what he said for me to do today: “Then, on Friday, I want you to do me a huge, gigantic, enormous favor. I want you to write a post.”

How can I refuse a favor for a friend? Even for a devious double-dealing annoying son of a–wait, Og has a nice mother, I can’t use that — anyway, what’s a girl to do?

I’m stuck.

And now, so are you. All letters of complaint and restraining orders should be sent to Og ’cause it’s all his fault.

So, I did what I usually do when faced with a writing assignment and a deadline; I messed around until it was almost late.

No, actually I went to my usual sources of inspiration in these situations: I looked through the Oxford Book of Quotations, Google, my music collection, and when all else failed me (as it always, always does), I rummaged around in my head.

It seems appropriate that I should write about friendship because that’s what got us all here in the first place.

A friend should be a master at guessing and keeping still: you must not want to see everything. — Friedrich Nietzsche

“Miss your voice/and the touch of your hand
Just long to know/that you understand
My buddy . . . “ — Gus Kahn

(BTW, I asked Og if they were truly visiting “The happiest place on Earth.” He told me where he thought that was situated . . . trust me on this one, it’s nowhere near Orlando.)

A friend in need . . . is a pest. — Attributed to Joe E. Lewis by Frank Sinatra

A friend will get you out of jail.
A good friend will help you hide bodies.

Here in the South, your friend will not get you out of jail, but that’s because he’s in the next cell over yelling, “Whoa buddy, didn’t we screw up this time?”

Son, brother, father, lover, friend. There is room in the heart for all the affections, as there is room in heaven for all the stars. — Victor Hugo

You gotta have freeeeeeeeeeends . . . Oh hell no.

Ultimately I come back to what I truly know on the subject, which is this:

Friends are the people who know everything about you . . . and love you just the same.

Your happiness is their happiness too; your wants and needs and desires and even sometimes your petty little whims are as meaningful to them as their own.

They exult in your success; they comfort you in your tragedies.

They catch you when you fall.

I am honored to have such a friend in Og; he carries a bright and shining heart.

May you all be so blessed.

(I am going to hurt him when he gets back, though.)

Og’s friend Jenny