In my old age I'm finding out that loyalty means a lot to me; loyalty to your family, your friends, your favorite team, or a business who has always done you right.
It's easy to remain loyal when your team is winning, when your family isn't being annoying, and when your friends are within sight. But when times are the opposite, it's then that our loyalty is tested.
People laugh at me when I get passionate about something - a person, an item, a team, a product, a company - I make it my world. People hear about it incessantly. I recommend it to my friends. I find every opportunity possible to work it into my conversations. The things and people I am passionate about make me happy, and even though many people think I'm selfish (which I am to a point), I want to share this feeling of happiness with them so they can see what's making me feel so great.
Lately in life I've been seeing examples of a lack of loyalty. Your favorite team isn't always going to win (unless you're really lucky), but that doesn't mean you stop believing in them. They may frustrate you, break your heart, and crush your spirits, but you have to remember what makes them your favorite team in the first place and keep on believing that one day they'll win again. Businesspeople are going to make mistakes, and these mistakes are going to jam up your day, but a true sign of a good company is how the recover and how they keep their word and deliver their promise the next time around. If everyone got one strike in life, think of how short baseball games would be...there'd barely be enough time to find the toy in the Cracker Jacks!
Recently, I met and bonded with a group of individuals from completely different parts of the country. We communicate with each other every day, thanks to Facebook. We'll see each other once, maybe twice a year, some more often than others, but we are never far from each other's minds (mainly because our sarcastic banter keeps us well-entertained.) I've told everyone I know about this group of my friends, and people think I'm crazy, that I can't possibly make such good friends with people I met through a work conference in my thirties. To that I call shenanigans. As true, loyal friends do, we have each other's back in good times and on bad days. We listen, we remember, we ask, we laugh, we forgive, and we communicate, not because we have to, but because we want to. We have all bonded because of the company who introduced us, and because each of us believes very passionately in their products. Cultish? Maybe a little, but without the weird haircuts. While they haven't replaced my true friends I've had all these years, they are quickly becoming a part of my family. They are also showing me, without trying or even knowing they are, that I deserve the best in every aspect of my life, including the people I surround myself with. And I have learned that the people in this world who fall short of "the best" and have had more than their share of three strikes, are out. No apologies, no explanations, no time for toxicity.
To my true friends, old and new, I adore you. Thank you for your loyalty, your teachings, and all the laughs and smiles.
