Dump away

A friend of mine is going through a rough patch just now.

Okay, I guess it’s likely that at any given moment, a number of people are going through rough times and I probably know some of them, call them friends, even.

What makes this friend’s current state of annoyance bloggable is that she dumped on me. Or I should say, dumped to me, since I didn’t feel dumped on at all. In my world, one of the greatest functions of friendship is acting as a whine bucket for someone you truly care about.

There have been so many times in my life when I felt my temples exploding and would have given anything to be able to just spew to someone who wouldn’t hate me for it. And might even pretend to care about my problems. For the last quarter century, Mary and I have been each other’s designated dumpees and it’s been invaluable. But I do recall my pre-Mary days and many situations in which I felt alone and vulnerable.

Alone and vulnerable sucks.

Dumping is a good thing. Dumpable buddies represent one of the absolute requirements if one is to remain sane.