I spent time with a good friend of mine sometime in the past five years. We were working on a project that was very dear to my heart. My friend threw themselves in with vigor and enthusiasm that suggested personal involvement. It was quite touching to me.
On day two, pretty much out of the blue, my friend said, “You know, I’m really sorry for all the…” And I cut them off. “YOU’RE sorry? I’m the one who ought to be apologizing!” And that was that because there was no useful reason to rehash our many individual failings over time because they remember, and I remember. And now, it’s all good.
Sometimes, you can follow the trajectory of a relationship over a lot of years. Thinking back, you wonder how you survived all of the Sturm und Drang that the relationship went through and come out okay. Actually, way better than okay.
The obvious Beatles reference
I’d been thinking a lot about how people enter and sometimes leave one’s circle. At a local store, I saw someone who used to work on my floor at work. I hadn’t seen them in three years, but we picked up as though almost no time had passed.
I have friends I’ve known since kindergarten, second grade, high school, or the first day of college, and we’re still in touch. In many ways, I’m a very lucky guy.
Even those relationships that seem to have faded away, I still find value in our time.
My goodness, this feels a lot like some of the lyrics of The Beatles’ song In My Life. Specifically, “I know I’ll never lose affection For people and things that went before.” When I was younger, I thought it was an overly sentimental song, and not in a good way. As I’ve gotten older, I find that I’ve become more sentimental and, occasionally, even sappy. So it goes.