New Year's Day

All is quiet on New Year's Day. A world in white gets underway...wait. Sorry, that's U2, and it's 52 degrees and raining here in northern Ohio this year. It is quiet, though. Almost too quiet. Like Charlie is out there waiting to make his move. Ah, it's good weather for Charlie. Alright, back on topic, that being New Year's Day. I have never been one to share my opinion unless my chain was rattled, or someone actually asked, which is rare, understandably. I have a tendency to (as my daughter tells me) give waaay more detailed and usually researched information than the answer requires. This is not completely my fault. It is my observation that people do not respond with an aknowledgment of understanding at any point throughout my answer, thus leading to an extended detailed explanation until I receive the required acknowledgment. Breathe. Anyway...my best friend for many years thinks it a good idea for me to blog. It's something that, until today, I was SURE I would NEVER do. That is why he became my best friend. First of all, his point. He thinks my words might inspire him or someone else. I warned him that I can be extremely sharp-tongued, even offensive, and down-right opinionated, and I make no apologies for it. That is why I have been sure I would never blog, and others would share my enthusiasm for my silence. Yet, he started a blog himself, and with a short blog of his on how I (almost anonymously) inspired him, he inspired me enough to try this. Now back to my point. Why he became my best friend. We are polar opposites. At least we started that way. As years go by, of course, I think we, like people start to look like their pets, begin to morph our behaviors, some by nature, some by need. In the mid-90's when we both were moonlighting a second job at a busy convenience store on the night shift, his handling of a black racist woman wih humor was the night I decided that this fast talking wirey psych-type might just be the side-kick Ying that my analytical black and white Yang personality needs. This woman had, for years tried to make our lives hell with her attitude, and I can say I have a clear hatred for such people, who refuse to live in peace. She would later be fired TWICE from a local nursing home for the typical stealing/misuse of resources one would expect of someone who thinks that they are "entitled" to everything. She just made me angry, but he actually made me laugh at his handling of her. She just got more irritated, and he didn't even care. He called her out. I still made no move to friendship. He and his wife did. Fate and distance have tested our friendship over these years, but the rest as they say, is history. I'll finish with this. Birds of a feather flock together, as the saying goes. But then those birds may all fly into a jet engine together. I encourage anyone seeking a true friend to look for a COMPLEMENT to your self, not yourself;  A Honeycut to your Hawkeye, a Lennon to your McCartney, an Arthur to your Tick.