Inexplicable Friendships

"You fucking derelict."
-Paul Giamatti as Miles on Sideways

Last night, my best friend and neighbor opened up a bottle of wine and threw away the cork. Then he and his girlfriend decided that they didn't want it after all, so they gave it to me.

So I poured a glass and turned on Sideways, one of my absolute favorite movies--one that just happens to be about wine.

As I watched the film, I repeatedly refilled my glass. Tipsy and contemplative, I began to realize that, though Miles and his buddy are totally flawed, I can relate to them in so many ways.

One of the themes of the film is friendships, and how they change over the years, very much like a bottle of wine. We all have inexplicable relationships with people that have nothing in common with us. Miles is an intellectual wine snob, pretentious author, and a tragic alcoholic; while Jack is a simple-minded, naive party boy. These two are painfully different in so many ways, and yet their friendship is totally believeable. Why?

I think the answer to this is that we all have at least one friend that is in no way like us, which brings me back to my buddy, Brian, the one that gave me the wine.

I grew up a block away from him, and we've known each other since kindergarten. Even now we've managed to get apartments that are back to back. We get along, we're good friends, and we are completely unalike.

I'm going to school for an English degree and I work in a kitchen. He's a firefighter and wants to be an EMT. I'm a writer. He's a guitar player. One of my favorite films is Sideways, one of his favorites is Alien Vs. Predator.

Like Miles and Jack, we have grown apart in many ways, and I'm sure that both of us are totally aware of it. We no longer spend every possible chance together like we did as kids, and it's very clear that our lives have taken separate trajectories.

By the end of last night, I shuffled into the kitchen to find that the bottle was empty. I had drunk the entire thing (watching Sideways, this is often inevitable). I went to bed and before drifting into a drunken sleep, I decided that, despite our separate lives, we are still loyal friends, and at least we have that. It was a very bittersweet notion.

This morning, I awoke with a splitting headache.