Friends on a String

Week 12: Who were your freinds when you were growing up? How did they influence you?

 

When I was a kid, I remember hearing an analogy about how we are tied to our friends by an invisible string. Because of this string, we will either pull our friends in the direction we are going, or they will pull us in theirs. The basic principle that I always got from that analogy is that we should choose our friends wisely and associate with those that have similar morals and beliefs to our own. That way, whoever is pulling the string on any given day, will always be pulling it in a positive direction.

When I was growing up, I had many friends in school that influenced my life in a positive way. Since I was active in sports and band, the majority of the people I hung out with got good grades and were  pretty sensible in their decision-making (we all kind of had to "behave" in order to maintain the privilege of participation in our extra-curricular activities). Perhaps I was pretty lucky in my choice of friends, or perhaps it was because of the influence of the string metaphor in my life at that time, but I don't remember ever being affiliated with people that tried influencing me to smoke or to do drugs. I guess I just associated with a lot of good, down-to-earth people that influenced my life in a positive way.

In high school, I was fortunate enough to have several good friends that have left their mark on my life in their own way. For example, when I was a freshman in high school, my friend, Jessica, introduced me to The Original London Cast of Les Miserables, and I was instantly in love (with the CD, not the girl. haha). I begged my mom to buy the CD for me, and after she gave it to me for my birthday that year, I listened to it so many times that I eventually had to replace it. hehe. To this day, there is something magical about Les Mis that evokes so much passionate emotion that it seems to make my heart hurt. Love. Love. Love.

With the recent DVD release of Les Miserables (the cinematic version), I thought it would be oh so sweet of me to share this video of one of my favorite Les Mis songs, which happens to be sung by one of my favorite characters. You're welcome, America. Hehe. ::winks at my hubby::