People I Admire

In an effort to combat the winter blues, I decided to write about something happy today. Or at least not blah.

I don't actually admire many people. Respect, yes, like, sure, but admiration isn't that common for me.

However, I do have a good friend that I admire a great deal.

He's going to the same college I did, for pretty much the same reasons. He wants to do what he loves, although he's not at all opposed to doing other things if he has to to pay the bills, and having that piece of paper saying you know what you're doing, and the extra knowledge from the business classes that are part of the degree, can make all the difference in the world.

He busts his butt, both working and going to school full time. He's had to deal with parental pressure on everything from what horses to train when he's not in classes (he's already breaking colts in his off time to help pay for college) to what truck to buy when his got totaled. He's dealt with an ex-girlfriend cum roommate who somehow managed to blow several thousand dollars in three months with nothing much to show for it, and spent two months "job hunting" before she could manage to pay her half of the rent. He even used his friendship with her now-boss to get her the job in the first place.

He has one more year of classes than he should because he had to drop his riding courses his first year due to a knee injury.

In short, life has handed him the brown smelly end of the stick in a lot of cases. But he doesn't just give up. I have never seen him throw his hands up and say it can't be done.

He has abominable taste in women and has had one manipulative, emotionally bruising relationship after another, because when he gives himself, he doesn't hold back.

He's always there for his friends when they need him, whether it be a night on the town to de stress or a couple of days of backbreaking labor.

And somehow, through all of this, he still manages to keep his sense of humor and fun. He's a young cowboy in the grand tradition which means he's just slightly nuts and likely to do something dumb and possibly dangerous just because it looks like fun.

All of these are reasons I admire him. The reasons that I consider him one of the best people I know include that list, with some added on:

He won't let a female friend go a night at the bar without dancing. I have plenty of guy friends who simply wouldn't think about the fact that their gal pal hadn't danced all night. Doesn't make them bad people, but this guy will gallantly offer his arm to the more ladylike of his friends, and sincerely ask them if he might have this dance. For the more tomboyish and closer of his friends (me) he'll simply walk up, grab them by the hand, and tow them to the dance floor.

He's always willing to listen. Whether it be a close friend or the girl or guy he barely knows who is just homesick and needs to talk, he always finds the time.

There are other reasons, of course, but this is running long. My point is, the world needs more people like him, and I'm proud to call him my friend.

I wonder if my readers have friends like this? If you do, speak up. The attention always goes to the crummy people who do bad things... I'd love to hear about some of the good ones.