Volleyball and the Power Puff Girls

The last post I wrote was about friends and an appreciation that comes with time.  So when I put my computer away in the bag, went to meet my daughter, I heard something thwap the side of the bag.  I don't normally think about it--it's normal because on the side of the bag, I've got a keychain, given to me fourteen years ago.  It looks like this:

That's right--it's Mojo Jojo from the Powerpuff Girls.  It's been with me everywhere I've gone.

Back at the end of the 2000 volleyball season at Satan's School for Girls and Boys, we had senior night for the team's three seniors: Beth, Emily, and Stacey.  At the time, the players also wound up getting something for me as coach--usually a funny tie (I still have them all...), but in this case they also got me the Mojo keychain because each of the seniors received a keychain as well--a different Powerpuff Girl for each of the three.

I asked "Why am I getting Mojo Jojo?" (which caused some surprise initially that I'd know who he was...sometimes high schoolers forget that coaches are often parents...or maybe just like cartoons). 

The answer came from junior Jody, "Because you're their pimp daddy."
Fair enough.

The thing is--fourteen years later, all three seniors still have their keychains, too, though because they've been used as regular keychains, they've all had the paint worn off.  I think only mine has the paint on it still, but I'm not sure.  Think about it--little one-dollar trinkets, given as a senior night gag really, and more than a decade later--everyone still has theirs. 

I think that says something about the whole team--and just as importantly the bond between those seniors (one of the two most successful groups to play at SSGB) and between players and a coach.

It is a great memento of a wonderful season.  (You can read more about it in my coaching book here....)  But I like it not just because of the season, but because of those three seniors and what they've done since that point.

Emily: Physician and mother of two.
Beth:   Department Head at a community college, mother of one.
Stacey: CPA and mother of two.

Successful women professionally and happy in their personal lives--everything a coach could ever want for his players.

An appreciation of friends

So yeah...been a while since I had the time and wherewithal to write a blog entry. 
I had an interesting conversation with my daughter today about friendships--interesting questions.

How do you define friendship?  Can it be defined--or is it "it just is".  
Does age matter?  Does gender?
Can you stay friends with people you've dated or "liked"?

The funny thing is I know a -ton- of people, I'm friendly with about 98% of those and at one level those are 'friends'.  There's not a word to describe them other than that--and they are people I DO care about--past players and coaches (Laura, Kelly), some former students and a couple staff from Satan's School for Girls and Boys, the people I work with at Lincoln Land, etc.

But then there's an inner circle of friends--for lack of a better way of putting it.  I think that that's a function of time as much as anything else.  When I look at that inner circle, the length of time I've known those people tells a tale:
Baron:  40 years
Dave:   29 years
Erik:     30 years
Eric:     39 years
Larry:   32 years
(And then the 'youngster'--Mrs. Dietz):
Julie:    24 years

And none of that is meant as a slight to other good friends--it just shocked me how long I've known the friends closest to me--which is probably a function of everyone getting older, I suppose.  But how do you explain that to your daughter--someone who hasn't been alive half as long as some of those friendships have existed?  Since she went to Uni--she's only really known the same set of people for 4-5 years....no friendship can run that deep when it's such a short amount of time.

I think that is especially important with dating relationships--now that I'm older and MAYBE wiser.  Kids always seem to think they have a perfect relationship, everything's so intense because it's all new--but only time can assure the friendship sticks, puts down roots so to speak for the long run.  I want to laugh--because I suspect my mom understood that even though it was never discussed.  So now I have to wait 15/20/30 years before my kids go "Hey, dad..." with an insight into friendship...and then I can whip out a link (or whatever we'll do in 2044) to this and say, "Ah, hah!" and point out my wisdom for their benefit.

All that's a long way around saying I'm blessed with a great circle of friends.  I should probably tell them they are appreciated more often--then again, that'd probably get me ridiculed and taunted (I've known these guys a long time...)

But really--how do you define friendship, something unique in a relationship between two people?