Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Stranger To Friend

There are times and groups in your life, that you feel are complete, whole, filled, and in no need of any addition to your pseudo "family". People expectedly attempt to join or even force themselves into this already "complete" congregation, making the camaraderie bend and swell ... uncomfortably. Then you find yourself surprised, when you meet the right stranger, at the right time ... simply just visiting. You're strangers, not friends ... but through time you become friends, collectively with the family.

It's never expected to be accepted, when first making introductions. There's that awkward hello, the handshake even. Then from there it's work as usual. Quiet casual conversations, learning the mannerisms/inflections/likes/unlikes/backgrounds/similarities/differences ... still strangers. Then something occurs, a common event/discussion that brings to light who this person really is ... and they're no longer strangers, they have a name, they're becoming friends.

I'm surprised at moments like these - the almost evolution of human interaction, from distance to familiarity to family. Such was/is the case with our summer intern Michelle Webb (check out her blog). In the 5+ years I've worked with the station, we've had a healthy number of people come through the doors and intern/volunteer/work and attempt to fit within the confines of the said family (described at the beginning of this post). Michelle made her home here at The JOY FM, giving of her time, talents, heart ... she impacted all of us, made us smile, and became apart of our family.

She was a stranger, who didn't force her way in ... but allowed us to get to know her, and thus became our friend.