I'm meeting a friend for lunch and then we're supposed to come back here to hang out and do some stuff in the studio.

This friendship is pretty new and the only words I can find to describe it would be that it has been a great blessing to me. I'm writing this with a lot of self-conciousness because of the idea that he might end up reading this at some point. But, that's the truth.

If you think about it, most of the friendships we have come about by the happenstance of proximity. Most of the people that are your friends at least started out because you found yourself in a situation where you were in the presence of the other person with some regularity. Maybe you had a class together or worked together or happened to hang out at the same place with the same people. This may change, and you find yourselves not crossing paths as much and you have to make an effort to spend time together, but by that time, you already have a relationship and there's impetus to appoint time to be together.

This is not the case with my friend, E. Not only did we not frequent any of the same places, we'd never even met. We knew some of the same people, but he lives like 40 minutes away from me and not at all in a direction that I go with any regularity. He's also 20 some years older than me and has kids in high school, so he's got lots of responsibilities and time commitments that I know nothing about. So it's far from a given that our paths would have even eventually crossed.

I made the initial contact because he's an accomplished, respected musician/songwriter and I was hoping to get some juicy quotes to add to my promotional materials. (We nobodies have to work every angle we can in attempt to gain some credibility.)

Anyway, after I got him a copy of gypsy heart, eventually he called me back and I had the best time talking to him on the phone about music, songwriting, and all kinds of things. Then we planned a time to just get together and hang. Then he'd call me again and we hung out again, then he'd call me again and we'd get together again.

The coolest part of all of this, is that he knew that I wouldn't have pursued this relationship for fear of being a bother to him. 1) I'm kind of that way with guys and I always have been. 2)He's older than me, in a much different place in life, why would he want to hang out with a stupid kid? 3) He's a successful, respected, (famous?) songwriter/musician and I'm still just trying to keep my head above water. What could I possibly have or know that might be of any interest to him?

The thing is: he reached out to me and made it very clear that he was enjoying our time visiting as much as I was. He's been very intentional in telling me how much he's enjoyed our time together. And when we get together, we don't even really do anything except just hang out.

He's taken interest in me and even bigger, in my music. As an independent artist, I've gotten used to surviving on very little outside support and encouragement. (Let me backup and say that I am way more fortunate than some. I have a wife and family that have always supported me and a handful of "true believers" who help keep our heads above water with their financial support. I've always said that their belief in me to make said contributions keeps me going way more than the $. However, when it comes to day-to-day interactions with everyday people, not many get what my life is about and the truth is that very few even try.)

But, here is a guy that has been there that I respect and admire who is asking me what's up with my music? What's my plan? What's my focus? And he's been there to be able to understand my feeble answers. It's humbling to recognize how much I've thrived on his interest.

Anyway, like I said: The only word I can use that seems to fit, is that E has blessed me with his interest and his friendship and I'm grateful to him.

He still hasn't given me a quote, though. Maybe tomorrow. :)