Friendship

He told me that he will come by to talk to me. Initially, I was thrilled at the prospects but as time went by I reminded myself about the existence of a familiar concept "too good to be true." On a positive note, I, at least, had his word if not the eventual consequence. I had no doubt about his good intentions. Even with one's best efforts sometimes the outcome is in complete contrast to what one's mind craves for. So I did not let the delay bother me and imagined how he might have gotten caught in one thing or the other. Simultaneously, I put my mind to the work at hand. It was a tricky problem that I had trouble figuring out. I thought of collecting a few other people's view on it.
Suddenly, I saw him in front of me. The look on his face said that he finally found me. I was in the process of talking to a third person when this happened. Hence, I could not outwardly react to it. He waited for me to get done. I thought it might surprise the third person if we both walked back together without exchanging any conversation, on the spot. Fortunately, as soon as I was done talking, he picked up the conversation with the third person. I, conveniently, walked away without mentioning anything about our tryst. He finally joined me after a few minutes.
I had so much to talk about, I didn't know where to start. He made me comfortable enough that I didn't even bother organizing my thoughts. So I just let all the pent up frustration flow out. I was not really looking for solutions. I just wanted to express. I behaved as if I was the only person on the earth who had problems. He smiled and chimed in with good advice. After a long outburst, I calmed down and turned the table over to him. I asked him about his work. As I listened it became crystal clear that he was also coping with a lot of problems. He was probably doing a much better job of coping with the stress. I felt better discovering that I was not the only one facing hurdles. I also realized I had a lot to learn from him in terms of having the right attitude. Our conversation rambled on to more general stuff and became more interesting and enjoyable. At the end of an hour, I was completely "un-physced" and relaxed. We, then, decided to go back to our "business as usual".
Friendship is all about being able to pour out whatever is on one's mind without any goal other than making a connection.