Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?
Wen writes about a friend drifting away, or so it seems. Whatever's going on there, it sucks, it's a lousy situation to be in, where someone you cared about so much yesterday has all of a sudden converted you to Yesterday's News or, conversely, you've converted them to Yesterday's News in the time it takes to raise a voice, be stubborn when I don't think it's necessary or made one comment that I'll never be able to forget. In these situations, I tend to just let things go, trying (sometimes in vain) to have faith in the universe and its ability to bring us together when we need to be.

Part of this you can chalk up to the transient nature of lives, to how at one point in your life your favorite food is a hot dog, then your tastes change, you discover Aidell's Sausage and all of a sudden, you guessed it, hot dogs are Yesterday's News.

Once the hot dog conversion is complete, you may eat those hot dogs, may still enjoy them, but in the back of your mind you're thinking, this tastes okay but an Aidell's would be better right now and this hot dog just seems a bit awkward anyway.

I know how it goes, Wen. I do. I think that's what's happened with us, when we started being friends all those years ago, eating the proverbial hot dog at Ohio State, we had more in common then because at least for me, my life was a lot less robust. No loving adorable girlfriend, no hockey, not much going on really outside of going to school and figuring out how to be gay. And of course, eating those hot dogs.

But then we both moved, moved on, found other hobbies, and yes, I found Aidell's. However, we do still both eat those hot dogs sometimes, we just have a lot less time to do it in. I chalk this up to our collective robust lives, to the expansion of our world that has made our friendship less a focal point and more of a very reliable and trusted resource that I enjoy spending time with. While I regret that we don't have more time together, I am extremely grateful that our worlds have each expanded so that they are filled with a myriad of other things that make us both happy.

So what I'm saying is, I don't think friendship as adults has to be an on/off thing. Or at least I hope not. I hope for the sake of ending your stress that your other friend, Wen, is busy eating Aidell's, that he/she merely needs to be shown a hot dog once more to be reminded of how good they can be, too. Even if you no longer eat them every day.

Best of luck to ya, may you find your vegan Aidell's, pronto!