carnations are red

this afternoon something quite interesting, and what i would classify as beautiful, happened to me. this small incident started with me deciding to go to the "senior night" soccer game at school. "senior night" is always the last home game for a certain sport, and they honor the seniors who are playing their last games at the home field. it usually involves family and whatnot. anyway, i decided to go for one primary reason: to see stephen's mom, who i haven't seen or spoken to in a long time due to the sad fading of stephen and my friendship. to my relief (because i was a bit nervous about it) she greeted me with open arms and began to chat it up with me. the game progressed as we watched with intermittent conversation, and although i needed to leave, i decided to stay til the half. half time rolls around and cory fong catches my attention from the dispersing team huddle, and signals for me to come talk to him. he notifies me that they are about to do all the senior stuff, but his family and gf arent there, and he asks me if i will be his "family" for it. this my friends is one of the beautiful things in life that remind me of the goodness that can exist in the world. cory and i have been friends since about the 7th grade. we were once extremely close during freshmen and sophmore year, but like anything else we drifted apart. although we did drift, his asking me to do something like this for him, and me feeling in my heart that it is good for him to depend on me assures me that our friendship is forever. it's little, good, things like this that make my heart feel good about the world. friendship that is tested and still true, the ability to be dependent on others, the spontaneity of life. so if you haven't already figured out, i agreed to be cory's family for the day. i went out there when they called his name and he gave me the single red carnation that now, at least in my mind, can remind me of these beautiful moments in life. and the honest truth is that of anyone, i think i am a part of cory's family.