accented

i have a friend from long island, NY that i've known for close to 12 years.  we met in college through a suitemate of mine, and we've managed to keep in touch since then through short messages and a phonecall every once in awhile.  he is probably the exact opposite of me in every way, and if we lived close to each other i doubt we would have ended up in the same circles, but the reason we stay in touch is because i think we really "get" each other.  it is evident in our banter; he is like the brother i never had.  we can go about our lives for months at a time without saying a word, but the minute we check in it's like we haven't missed a beat.  over the years, i've found that relationships like this are rare, so i make it a point to maintain our friendship, as does he.

we have this running joke (and a point of contention) about our manner of speech.  he has a thick long island accent that he argues is not an accent, which i counter that it is, and he'll end the conversation saying i'm the one who has the accent.  and how can i argue with that?  in his world, i do... and in mine, he does.  it's a wonder we can even communicate (which, now that i think of it, was hard for me at first.  i used to make him repeat everything, partly because i needed to register what he was saying and partly because i thought it was both funny and interesting hearing a word i knew being transformed into something else).

so, i guess to each other we'll always be accented... but at least i don't need to hear him to understand what he's getting at.