I believe in a better half.
My grandma is the historian of our family. Her favorite story to retell over and over took place before my twin brother and I could even speak. We were standing in our cribs when we did not want to take our naps, and we were talking gibberish to each other and playing. My grandma contends that we understood every word of it, but we have no way of knowing. What we do know is that my brother Matt and I were standing in our cribs, talking gibberish to each other and throwing stuffed animals back and forth.
Now, we still talk and we still throw to each other, only it is on the baseball field. We are both pitchers. We learn how to pitch through each other’s knowledge and each other’s curiosity.
But most of all, we get through the bad pitches because we are there for each other, to distract each other, to make fun of each other and to get each other through the tough things in our lives. My last pitching outing went horrible and my brother was there to keep my head on straight, to get me focused on my next chance to pitch so I can get the job done and prove myself.
These are the reasons why I think we have best friends. Best friends can be our girlfriends, our boyfriends, our best buddies or in my case my brother.
Whoever they are, our better halves keep us focused when we need to be, bring encouragement through frustration. They keep us modest and humble. Most of all, I think best friends keep us sane by distracting us.
We don’t always value the distractions during the roughest times. Yet I think they are what keep us from being consumed in the worst. Those who take the hard times the hardest, by resorting to substances or methods far worse, are sadly, almost always alone. They are alone with their problems even if they have someone around them.
It is true everyone is ultimately alone to some degree in this world. Despite the clichés, no one can truly become one with me and know absolutely everything about me and my mind. But having someone with you to help carry the load and know enough about you to be some sort of haven keeps us moving in life.
Lastly, not only do we prevail through our better halves, but we grow through them. My brother and I have become what we are today because we grow through each other in everything we do. We are successful baseball players because we undertook that adventure together. We have grown to be good people because we each have had each other to look out for and learn from.
This is the lasting effect of best friends. In a grander sense, not evident to the human eye, they help us to grow and usually help to provide the beautiful moments in our lives.