Old Friends

Some friends of mine are coming for a visit. My buddy and his wife are flying in from Kentucky. I've another friend from Maine who'll be joining us.

How many people are lucky enough to have friendships that go all the way back to school days and have lasted for decades? I'm still in contact with most of my old buddies and feel truly blessed. These are the people who've seen me though my ups and downs and are still friends.

Now some people have friends for decades because they've always stayed in the same town. I stuck around, but just about everyone I was close to had to move to find work. That's life in a dying mill town.

Some kept in touch as they'd come back to visit family fairly often. A few would make regular visits for outdoor activities: hunting, fishing, hiking boating, skiing, that sort of thing. Many moved too far away for regular visits. We'd call on the phone. Remember when long distance phone calls were expensive? I'd try to budget for the expense, as keeping in touch was important. Back in the day I even use to write actual paper and pen letters if I couldn't afford phone calls.

Now long distance phone calls are cheap and e-mail is effectively free. Keeping in contact is much easier.

Still, it doesn't beat physically getting together. We can hang out at the lake, sit by a fire, share few good meals, and most likely break out one of my treasured bottles of single malt scotch. Friends are like a good scotch. They get better over time, but only if the original ingredients were first rate.

-Sixbears