Savor It

I just finished a week long cleansing fast. The reason I did the fast was not because of my health, although fasting has kept me healthy in the past. I decided to fast because food had lost its taste. I was eating to live, but not living to eat. "In the abundance of water, the fools is thirsty."--Bob Marley, Rat Race. So, I decided to eat only raw fruits and vegetables for a week. Suddenly, lettuce had taste and texture and temperature. Peaches were the best thing ever. Grapes were like small bursts of joy. I learned to appreciate food again in its natural form.

The same can be said about friendship. The rat race we live in is on super fast forward compared to what Bob Marley was talking about. We have 10 different fast food restaurants within one city block. We have thousands of channels on tv plus On Demand and Youtube. We have 500 friends on Facebook, but do we savor any of them? Have our friendships lost their taste? It reminds me of a time when I was on the North Shore of Oahu surfing. One of my pro surfer friends had to go to the airport to pick up 10 new surfboards that were custom made for him. Another older surfer pulled me aside and asked, "How can you love 10 surfboards?" How can we give the time and attention to 500 friends on Facebook?

I'm currently filling out FriendSavers for some close friends who I haven't seen in a while. It is taking me about a week to fill out one page, because I'm trying to be creative, artistic and personal--things which don't come easy for me. Some how after filling out a page with some heart-felt words and awkward artwork, my friendship with these people "tastes better." Make any sense?