Do you have any 3am Friends™?
And by 3am Friends™, I don’t mean a drunken pick up just before you stagger home from the nightclub, or as it’s commonly known – sloppy seconds. No! I mean 3am Friends™ in a positive and not all regret-it-the-next-morning-by-slipping-out-the-window-in-your-undies-and-getting-dressed-in-the-street kind of way.
A 3am Friend™ is a friend, a truly great friend. One you can call at 3am and ask for help and where (this is the important bit) they’ll give it right away, no questions asked. Say you’re broken down and you call said 3am-er their response is, ‘Sure, I’m leaving now’ – no matter what time you call them. If the response is, ‘Ahhh, can it wait until the soccer game I’m watching is finished?’ – they are not a 3am Friend™. Don’t laugh – this actually happened to a mate of mine. She was broken down and called the boyfriend at the time to come help her and that was the response she received – he was watching a soccer match and couldn’t come. It was later she found out it was recorded. Surprisingly she didn’t go out with him for long. I can’t understand why....
A 3am Friend™ is someone you might not talk to often, it might even be a year or two between chats – but you know damn well if you need them, they’ll be there for you – no questions asked.
We all have mates. You can refer to your friends in a Swiss-Army knife kind of way – you’ve got those mates you have a coffee and chat with, or watch sport or penguin porn with, or have a serious put on yer drinking trousers kind of night with – but the 3am Friend™ is a rare breed – and a bloody valued one.
There’s an old saying – Friends help you move house, real friends help you move bodies.
The 3am-ers are body movers. If you’re on the run from the cops, they’ll put you up. If you’re accused of aiding and abetting Japanese Wailers, they’ll believe you if say you were just letting the money ‘rest’ in your account. There’s very little a 3am friend won’t do for you. Short of shagging their wife or taping over episodes of The Wire with Wipeout Australia, they’re going to stand by you no matter what (also depending on much they like their wife).
So dear reader – do you have any 3am Friends™? Or better yet, do you consider yourself a 3am-er?
Do tell.
8 comments:
Slipping out the window in your undies?
All I can say is splinters!
Ahhhh, the 3 am'ers. I also like to refer to them as the blokes you can count on to help you move house.
I've got 3, that I would help in a heartbeat.
One I met playing junior cricket, 20+ years ago.
One I met at Uni and shared a house with for 4 years.
The other I used to work with....I think he spends his days writing blogs now ;-)
Of course, being 2000km away slightly complicates the 3 am help thing :)
I wish I literally had a 3am friend, given that I am awake at that hour more often than not! Think of the mischief!
I would count myself as a 3 am friend.
But then... I don't know that I am very good at calling on anyone when I needed a 3am friend. A mate of mine did sit with me in emergency for 5 hours... that counts. Another berated me for not asking her to sit with me in emergency on another occasion (it happens on a semi-regular basis for some one as coordinated and classy as me) and that was cool. But sometimes you need people to be 3 am friends without asking them...
I have two. And I haven't spoken to either since last year (thanks for the guilt trip!). Hmn, tomorrow I'll pick up the phone.
I had lunch with two "friends" today, and found myself bored out of my skull, was grateful when it ended, so I guess your post has hit the mark with me (feel free to insert wry smile).
Thanks!
Fen, mischief is a top word. Mischief itself is even more fun!
Kris, this 'ere Emergency fetish you have....you know there's nightclubs and stuff now, right? There's other ways to amuse yourself in the early hours of the morning.
Shrinky, you'll make someone's week by calling them out of the blue. Always gives me a feel good smile for a while when that happens.
I should get on the phone myself.....
And Brucie, I'll be your 3am friend any day (Bruce says, 'Bullshit, I can be yours.')
Does this count: I haven't seen or spoken to him for 3 years, he lives in Europe. I call him up saying I need a place to stay for 3 months and I have no sure money that time. The next words out his mouth are: "when does your flight come in?"
I have one 3am friend for certain. I met this friend at school 4 years (give or take) ago and we just hit it off. We're so alike and yet so different. I know that if I call in the middle of the night asking for help she'd do whatever I asked, no question about it.
And I would consdier myself a 3am-er for her as well. I am the one who sat with her on the other line of the phone at approx 3am and talked her through this big break-up. If I hadn't been literally stuck on an island without any means of transportation I would have been at her doorstep in a heartbeat.
3am friends are awesome and like you say, very rare and should be valued.
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