01538: A Healthy Dose of B-Vitamins

So as I've stressed over and over again in recent blog entries, this has certainly been a most interesting weekend. Other than the fact that Tobie and I managed to go to O Bar for three straight nights despite a Sunday game session, work duties and an inordinate amount of tequila coming our way, this has been a weekend all about reconnecting with Prince.

Ironically around the same time last year, Prince had initially coined the term "B-Vitamins" to refer to our role in his life. It stemmed from how we came to use the terms B1, B2, and B3 to refer to me, Tobie and Prince respectively, especially in group chats and mass text messages. It helped distinguish one from the other and it did make for a catchy collective term. After all, vitamins are supposed to be good for you.

And that's what this weekend was for me - and for Prince and Tobie as well, I suspect. As draining as 2013 has been in terms of work (again for all of us apparently), I think the events of this weekend came precisely at the right time, although somehow also long overdue at the same time. That's a bit of a contradiction, but it just makes sense that way.

There are just those special people that come into your life that you know you shouldn't let go of. They're the one who feel like they truly matter above all others and you'd be a total idiot if you let them get by you. And circumstances can seemingly work against you when other friends try to dissuade you, public opinion seems to be against you and things just seem like one big mess. The potential for confusion and misunderstanding is always going to be there.

Those that matter to you most are also those who have the potential to hurt you the most as well, that is an inevitable fact. the process of opening up to another person allows for you to trust one another more but it also leaves you more vulnerable. This does not mean that you should avoid opening up to other people or risking on relationships. It just means that you have to be ready to face the potential consequences and be ready to get back on your feet when you fall. It means be prepared to get hurt and learning to move past the pain and to see the truth.

We all had our share of mistakes over the past 6 months since the break-up. We have done things that we regret but ultimately we learned from all that we had gone through as individuals and have learned something from it all. And whether or not we have learned enough is anyone's guess. But I know we've all made progress.

I do feel like a significant emotional weight has been lifted from my person. My heart feels full of love and relieved of some of the pain and regret. And while I know we're not in a position or state of mind to even consider getting back together, I think it is clear that there are still very strong bonds that inevitably tie the three of us together as something more than friends, at the very least. I think we got it right the first time when we started referring to ourselves as a family of some sort. That still holds true - and is probably true for any group of friends who share as much genuine care and concern for one another as we do.

I am most definitely happy now (and not that I wasn't happy before, mind you). Another part of my life feels all the more right and I know that both Tobie and I feel that sense of "added completeness", which is the best term I can apply to describe how it's not like Tobie and I felt incomplete together, but it does feel better having Prince as a friend again. Does that make sense? Whether it does or it doesn't, I'm just sticking with that.

The O Bar experience, I feel, is best defined by the people that we've met there. Beyond Prince, who is of course forever B3, there are so many other friends who have contributed to much to our lives even just by being there at the bar on the random nights that we go. They are all part of an extended family that acts as a valuable support system for all of us to help us cope with the stress of the world at large as we try to support them in turn. And it's not just about friends - it's also about the staff who make us feel taken cared of and the entertainers who make each night so colorful and memorable. And that is something that I have never experienced at any other bars since I had started "hitting the scene" back in 2003.

There are many reasons to be thankful in life. And I'd like to think that I touched on a number of them in my blog posts over the past few days. Now to steel myself for the work day ahead and keep strong the feelings of love and friendship that keep my heart humming cheerily.