Find Your Buddy

During school vacation, E and I went to the JFK Library to explore the life of the John Kennedy. It’s an amazing place, packed with exhibits and details on JFK’s life, his family, and his presidency. It also features a few of Jackie’s dresses, so there’s something for everyone, really.


After we got on the bus to get to the library, a group of school kids got on, too. They looked like they were in kindergarten or first grade. They all wore the same shirt and were bursting with energy and excitement.

True to good field trip etiquette, each of the kids on the field trip held the hand of their buddy. When it came time to get off the bus, the leaders all said, “Okay, find your buddy.” Which set off a mad scramble for hands.

During our visit, we kept running into this group of exited kids. They were at the drum concert, eating their lunch, exploring, learning, getting into trouble. Finally, we saw them getting ready to leave, each taking the hand of their buddy for the trip back on the bus.

A buddy. What can be better than a buddy? A hand to hold, a trusted friend by your side, walking the same path of exploration as you. There is something about having a buddy by your side to make the trip easier and more fun. It’s the power of the buddy.

A story in the New York Times talked about this very subject, the power of friendship. Part of the article talks about a study where they took a group of college students to the base of a steep hill and fit them with a weighted backpack. They were then asked to estimate the steepness of the hill. Some participants stood next to friends during the exercise, while others were alone.

The students who stood with friends gave lower estimates of the steepness of the hill. Here’s the best part, the longer the friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.

It got me thinking about my buddies, about the friends who grace my life. These are the friends who listen to me, who put up with my quirks, laugh at my stories, and tolerate my swearing. In other words, these are the people who really know me.

I’ve held some of these friendships close for a long time - 25 years, 15 years, and in the case of my dear twin sister, my whole life (and then some). Those dear friends, combined with the amazing people I’ve met in recent years, make my hill seem less steep. My life more rich.

And though there are times when we’re moving in different ways, our lives are taking different paths, there’s a trust, an unspoken knowledge that we will find our way back to the goodness of the friendship. That just like buddies on a field trip, we can be off exploring different things and learning new lessons. But at the end of the day, there’s still a hand to hold when we get back on the bus.