Friendship

I missed writing the blog on Friday. No excuses – just too busy with preparing for the trip to Vancouver. Didn't even realize I hadn't written it until Saturday. By then I was preparing for my flight and then in the air.

Arrived safely at Vancouver airport and was met by some very old friends. Known each other since high school and spent time with them when I lived here so many years ago. The wonder and joy of being back with old friends is that time means nothing. Catching up is just a matter of continuing the conversation that you left the last time you were together.

My life has been blessed with extremely good friends – people who I have a history with and who have known me through all the events of my life; the good, the bad and the downright ugly. The ties that bind can also connect and keep you grounded in who you are. Sometimes this can be a very healthy and welcome reminder.

It is easy to lose touch with old friends and sometimes it is worthwhile to make the break as you shift and change into different experiences and people in your life. The challenge of our past is that people can want to keep you there and remind you of all your mistakes and a life you may want to leave behind. It is with those kinds of friends that it is perhaps best to keep the ties as loose and as detached as possible.

With real friends, however, the thread they hold of your life can be a huge gift when you look back on the tapestry that you have weaved over your lifetime. Each thread of friendship becomes a part of a picture that really only begins to emerge as you have the perspective of time to look back and see what it is you have become.

I am the sum total of the friends who have touched my life and weaved a piece of their life's thread on my soul. For this I am extremely grateful and thankful that I never have to navigate this life completely on my own.

I am truly blessed by the friends in my life.