Day One – Prompt: The sound of a fan in the room

The fan is whirring and it’s already a little stuffy. It’s 5:50 am. Not a good sign for the upcoming day where temperatures are supposed to soar into the high 90’s. I am not happy. I have to deal with a problem that I’d rather not face: a friend who is drinking too much. And why, you ask? Why do I have to deal with that? Because this habit of over-drinking is building a wall between us – a wall that is cold and high, with no hand or toe holds for scaling. And how, you ask? How will I deal with this problem? The only way I know how: going over to her house and having a sit-down. A “You need to get yourself to AA today” talk that will most likely do nothing more than have her jump up and demand I leave so she can run into the other room and make herself that drink that will calm her nerves, soothe her soul, be her friend in a way that I now can not. Because real live friends require time and attention and conversation and opening yourself up to misunderstandings and hurt. But friends, unlike that bottle of hers, also give back with all the above, plus something more important: love. So why do it, you ask, if she won’t be receptive? And the answer is this. I can’t pretend everything is all right anymore. I won’t pretend. Because that’s not what friends do. And she’ll know that I know her life is going to hell. A rung on a ladder may be all today is. A hot day to go see a friend and say, “I care enough to say what I see.” Maybe that ladder will help scale that wall over time, one rung at a time. But that will not be up to me.