bad art, good love

Jamesy got my painting yesterday. I was a little hesitant to send it to him because I didn't know what he would think. Here's what he sent me today in response to the painting (it's also posted on his facebook page for those of you who might have already read it):

I LOVE YOU FRANKI

when i look around and see my friends, i see a small cadre of people. SHort, tall, old , young, male and female, black, white Hispanic, phillipino, Haitian, Belgian, British... I see an eclectic group of individuals all tied to me based on two principles : We love each other and my appreciation for each one is different...

None of your friendships is the same, because you are friends with folks for different reasons. Each friend represents a point in your life where you either had to lean on someone, or someone came into your life and has remained.

One such friend of mine recently sent me a painting she had done of yours truly. Granted it was not a Phyllis Marie Carter original (which by the way are the BOMB) or a James Palmiotti caricature, but her heart was in it and it made my 6yo smile and me cry. It was an early birthday present, from a person whom i know and consider a friend but never knew exactly how much she appreciated my worth to her.. "Jamesy I want you to know how much i appreciate our friendship and how much I miss you.. You have got to be the most positive person i have ever met" Franki Flowers....

i paraphrased but Ms Franki who is a Cancer survivor considers me "the most positive" person she has met.. WOW.. I am still flabbergasted...I bring a positive vibe and cheerful disposition in all ways of my life to hers, and that is my worth to her.. consequently, I see her as a person with whom i am most comfortable with and at peace...we can talk about everything and anything and usually do. We get mad at each other and still manage to remember how much we both mean to each others lives.. Friends have that affect on you..I have said it many a time, men and women "FRIENDSHIPS" are often challenged by sex and intimacy...as depicted in the ladder theory...yet i believe they can happen as long as you both know where you are...Im no damn fool, i would tap that in a HEART BEAT.. but thats not what we are about and coming to that empirical acknowledgment is HALF the BATTLE..

So yes i have female "friends" and they are friends in every sense of the word. These are not casual relationships based on the fact that we dated and it didnt work out so now we are friends.. HELL NO!! I have these relationships because I CAN COUNT on these people to be there for me as i will be there for them.. TO cry with me, and to laugh out loud.. to Dance with me even though no music is playing.. yep these relationships are what we want from either gender but most of all we want them for ourselves.... How do you love and appreciate your friends??

"True friendship comes whenthe silence between two people is comfortable."
David Tyson Gentry

"Friendship is a treasured gift, and every time I talk with you I feel as if I'm getting richer and richer."
Friendship Saying

"I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you."

"A friend is like father who scolds you,
like mother who caress you,
like sister who teases you,
like brother who fights you,
in short combine all worldly relations
you will have a friend and
that's what makes a friend above all relations "
Dr. Amanullah

"Daddy, why are you crying and laughing at the same time?"
"Baby, thats what you do when a friend touches your heart" James N