Friendship

One of my childhood and best friends invited me and the kids over for lunch this past weekend.  We've stayed very close over the near 30 years we've known each other.  I mean we go back to 7th grade!  He's probably more conscious and zealous about health, fitness, and diet than I'll ever be, he's been my inspiration for a long time.  We were workout partners at the gym in our teens, and then again in our 20s.  And now in our 40s, we're more like health, fitness, diet, and wellness partners as well.  We share a lot of the same thoughts, have read the same books, watched the same movies, and came to the same conclusions.  Heck, we even did 30 days of only raw vegan food together a year ago.  He's a special person to me, someone I trust completely with everything in my life, and someone who's always been there for me.

Our kids are close as well.  Our oldest daughters are good friends, ever since they were babies, and his two and my three love to play together and have fun.  This past weekend, we arrived at lunch time and left 'when the lights came on' and the kids played hide and seek, and all of the childhood games we played as kids.  It was a sight to see, something that brought back memories of my own childhood, and the boundless joy and carefree time spent with loved ones and friends.

I am fortunate to have a friend like that, someone I can talk to, and trust completely.  Where time spent, even though months or years interspersed, is as valuable as anything.  It's something you can't buy or produce, just those moments of friendship, frozen in time, conversations captured in my mind, pictures of the kids running around, and just enjoying the time, the sunshine, and the moments together.

Friendship is the essence of life, isn't it?  To share life's moments and beauty with your friends, to be there to listen, to see your kids relive your childhood in front of your eyes, and simply to live.

If you have a good friend that you haven't talked to in a while, set up some time to see him/her.  Spend some quality time together, talk, share, and enjoy life together.  Sometimes, it's not good enough just to call or email or text.  Spend a day together to cement it in your memory, to keep the friendship alive.  I'm very lucky with my friends, my true friends.  For us, even if we haven't seen each other in years, we just pick up where we left off last, and go from there.  But as time goes by, with our busy lives, those opportunities become more rare and fleeting.  So, it's really on us to make time now, while we're able to.