Old Friends

(My 50th post!)

To me, there’s nothing like seeing old friends again.

That feeling seems to get sweeter and more poignant every year, knowing that Time is passing all too quickly...

In 2020, it was hard to postpone planned visits to see old friends, but the dangers of COVID won out over my desire to spend a few hours with those dear people I miss so much.

This year -- 2021 -- I was at last able to get vaccinated and hit the road to go visit many of my oldest friends. I couldn’t see them all -- there’s never enough time to do that on a time-limited vacation -- but those visits were the medicine I needed to come back home and continue my Life Journey.

With some lovely memories and treasured photos to sustain me.

Now you don’t have to travel great distances to appreciate seeing old friends again. They can even be living in the same town or region, but with everyone’s busy-busy lives it’s not that easy even then.

But for me, it’s those who I used to see often and now live far away that I miss the most and are the most fun to be with again.

Now, when I see these dear people, I’m often struck by how much we’re all beginning to change as the years pile on. The thinning, graying hair, the wrinkles on the face, the expanding waistlines in some cases.

Others -- amazingly -- seem almost untouched by Time.

Lucky bastards...

People can also change on the inside, too.

Friends who you remember as once very liberal and hopeful in their outlook on Life can become much more conservative and hard-shelled, as people often do as they age. This is pretty normal, but -- thankfully -- it hasn’t infected my little group of friends that much.

Yet.

But if we still care about each other, we can usually get beyond political and other differences and have a good time in these always-too-short visits. (Best advice: Avoid these kinds of discussions and focus on shared memories -- and grandkids, if you have them.)

As I said, it’s fun spending time with these folks. And it really is SPENDING our time, which, along with our health, are our most precious gifts.

We all have only a finite amount of time to spend on this Earth, and we’re always told to spend it wisely. Of course, what that means EXACTLY is hard to say. Who can say if a day spent painting the garage or going to work is better spent than a day lying on the beach or playing with a child?

Or hanging with old friends.

I just know that -- for me -- spending some of my remaining days in this world with old friends is about the best way I know to really appreciate the gift of Life.