My best friend from high school, who played guitar in my first band and who I first began to adventure with, recently enlisted in the Israeli army. This really upset me as he is such a brilliant guy and it hurt to see his path go in the opposite direction of my own. We used to always imagine rocking the world together as Infamous Underground, the name of our sloppy sublime style band. But as time went on I held on to my dreams of becoming a musician and Arye did not. He went to school for mountain bike trail building on the coast, and said he was going to do that internationally. Everytime I visited him though he was smoking copious amounts of weed and playing violent video games... next thing you know hes headed for Israel.
I had a hard time confronting him on the subject as he is very defensive and aggressive. We had already been seeing each other less than ever but when he got the drift that I didnt support his decision, he totally avoided me. I never got to say good bye to him properly or give him my blessings.
Thankfully this morning before I awoke, we got a second chance. I visited him at his home the day he was leaving, I was able to resonate with his good intentions for joining the Israeli army and reminded him of the true purpose of a warrior, to protect the helpless. We smoked a joint together and I saw him off with a smile.
I will hold this dream close to my heart while Arye is in the service.