I’ve been awake since 2:24 today. It’s not terrible right now. Talk to me at 5:00 and we can reevaluate. No, I don’t have insomnia and neither do most of you. Some days you just can’t sleep as well as others. Quit cursing at insomnia. Exercise and eat right and you’ll sleep better. I digress. This post isn’t about sleep. 

I am at constant odds with the thought that what I create is just adding to the litter that is the Internet. I consume just like you and hope that I’m doing right by sharing. 

This morning I ran across yet another “the only metric of success that really matters is the ONE we ignore.” Doomsday. Clickbait. I’ll bite. 

The post was about the death of a brother and the power of the “community” that supported the mourning family. Just the kind of uplifting I need at 4:17 a.m.  It was actually a solid read as it got me thinking about my friends. 

I have a great group of friends. It has a solid core of misfit toys who are quick to laugh and quicker to jump your shit to call you out. We act like kids and parent our kids with the same fervor. One could argue we are too friend based but the staunch position of that article I just read proves us right. 

Good friends are truly an extension of family, and have the same flaws. I share different beliefs and politics and than most of my group, yet there is no polarization. Only love and respect. Just like you may hate your little brothers views on the gun control or his table manners. He’s you little brother and you love him. 

One of the things I find most lucky about my life is that I get to work with friends. Not just work friends. My actual friends are my business partners. We play (work) most days of the week. Does this make for tension? Sometimes, but it’s a hell of lot better than having to work with someone you don’t like or care about.  It creates a great atmosphere almost all the time. When there is conflict, gone is the petty workplace shit. We handle it mostly with respect and move on. It makes us even more accountable and helps us do a better job. 

The FRESHJUNKIE/FRESHJUNKIE Racing family is bound by fitness, food, rock n roll, excellence, hard work, big laughs and lots of love. It’s fueled by strong coffee, great food and cold beer.  We have run and ridden thousands of miles together. I’ve swum thousands they have limped through hundreds. We will travel across the nation to support each other or in some cases strangers (welcome be RAAM friends) and we like to win things that other people don’t know are a competition (The Running Event, Skyway 10k). Yes. This is all just rubbing it in. 

I have said before that my brain lives in a place where I truly think of my relationships with people in the following way. If at some point in my life we have been friends I’d like to believe we will always be such. When I see you in person, even if it hasn’t been since the 7th grade, prepare to pick up where we left off. Even if it’s as shallow as a conversation about Billy Idol and Tater tots. Just how it’s going to be. From what I may have lacked along the way, I will try and make up with a fervor on the second time around. Because all friends are worth it. 

I’d list them all by name but they know who they are and I’d leave out Brent as is customary. 

Do your best to invest in your people.  Especially ones that will walk along side you and act a fool. 

#hugsandhi5s