When I was walking over to my friend’s apartment last night, I got to thinking about how long I’ve known him and all the memories we’ve shared. We grew up on the same road, a couple houses down from each other. The all-American dream, you could say. Our young lives were filled with childhood memories such as backyard football, soccer and our first alcoholic drinks deep in the woods. Our families were close as well, so I always looked at him as a brother.

Our friendship has stayed strong over the years, even through family crisis. And when I finally entered the apartment and he threw me a beer, right then I believed our friendship would last, no matter where our lives would take us. I believed this because of the uniting factor of memories we’ve shared. The memories that created who we were before we even knew who we were. For a couple hours we caught up on school and each other’s family.

My friend decided to stay in that night, so I headed out with his roommate. My night was filled with endless beers and shots. I hopped from one bar to another and from one party to another. I saw old friends and new friends, and my night was filled with many cheers and laughter.

Finally, I found myself standing with two friends at Downtown, with too much alcohol flowing through my bloodstream. There was an awkward silence between us three except for the smacks of our lips on Corona bottles. I finally told them I had had enough and left to go get something to eat.

The Corner Grill tends to be my choice for food during late-night cravings. I walk in and order the breakfast special. It is my narcotic to fall asleep. As I sat there swaying around the diner stool, I found myself looking around at all the people in the restaurant. I guess you could say I was people watching. Someday we might even see that in the dictionary: “people watcher.” Again, I found myself thinking about friendship.

I watched one person throw ketchup at the person eating with him. I saw a group of people make fun of the waitress serving their food. I saw two friends leave, and the one walking out first didn’t hold the door for the other one. I didn’t like what I was seeing.

During my travels, I met a guy from Ireland whose name was Thomas. He was not your typical Irish man. He never had a drop of alcohol in his life. He was a philosophy major and you could tell that he let his studies mix into his daily life. Sometimes I would just watch him as he chain smoked and looked out into the vast and empty desert. He had this philosophy about friendship that I would always hold on to. He believed friendship between two people wasn’t two souls interacting, but one soul thinking about the great possibilities of life.

That’s exactly it. Friendship is about one soul creating constant energy between two minds. Too often, I meet friends, and our choice of action is just to throw back some beers. The only aspect of our lives uniting us would be the beers in our hands.

Friendship is trust and respect. Friendship is being there for someone when he or she is in some tough times. Friendship is feeling the hurt or the love of the other person. Friendship is not judging the person for what he or she does or believes. Friendship is understanding. Friendship is learning from each other and being each other’s teacher. Friendship is a memory of love and care that each person would hold on to. This is what unites my childhood friend and me. I know he, at times, disagrees with what I do and where I may go, but he knows memories of youth will always unite us.

As I trekked home, I looked up at the expansive sky. It was absolutely beautiful and gave me the feeling that life is good. It always will be, no matter what happens. I thought back on all I saw, all I drank and all that I felt. It was a long night, but the part I remember the most and care about the most was the simple two hours I spoke with my close friend. My brother from Southern Road. My night took me to almost every corner of Bowling Green, but my soul always stayed with my close friend.

If friendship is true, if it is real and if it is more than a party, then no matter where one goes in life, the united soul of friendship will always glow and create energy. Never underestimate the power of true friendship and the possibilities it can create.