The cousins have handed the reins over to their eldest boys but still poke their noses in to check.
My mate was widowed three years ago. His lovely wife left him at 70 years young. A beautiful woman with a heart of gold. A wonderful family.
My mate and I have known each other for nearly 40 years through our children being friends. Our families socialised, did trips, cubs, school stuff, sport and endless barbies and family dinners at each other’s places and with other parents.
Over recent years, we haven’t seen much of each other. No reason. Just life. We have always been friends. Our children grew to be adults with their own families. The guy on the Bobcat next door was Matt, our son’s boyhood mate. My mate had called up to see him. Matt has recently left the family firm and started his own outfit. Great to see a once-little boy I knew at Durie Hill School now running his own business. Where does the time go?
My mate and I greeted each other like old friends do. Laughter, hugs, saddened by “La” not being there too. Telling each other we look well, politely lying although I suppose we do compared to some. Ian and Jen having that ongoing banter they’ve done since 30-somethings. Having each other on. Neat to watch.
It’s like he was here yesterday.
We sat in the lounge and three hours went somewhere. It was wonderful talking about our lives way back as young parents. What we did, the funny stories, what’s happened to others we knew back then. The gossip. Talking about people we both knew, where they are, what they are up to. What’s happening around town. Just stuff old friends talk about when they have not seen each other for a while. Some tears, of course. Laughter and some tears come easily as we age. We just have so many memories of long lives, of great things and sad things. Of things we have seen and done, of changes in society we have lived through.
Three dear old friends laughing and cackling into the early summer evening. Ian will now be back for more of the same. He’s a popular, outgoing, successful guy and we are proud to know him, always have been.
It’s happening a lot lately. Old friends seeking out each other to check in. We have time now. We are also reliving those great memories of our lives and want to touch base again with people who are in those memories.
Nary a week goes by where we’re not visited, or don’t visit or bump into old friends, some going back to our childhoods.
It’s brilliant. We all have our little health problems. That’s just getting older. But we quickly revert to those much slimmer, hirsute, much better-looking and conditioned young people again. The memories flow. Things long forgotten come back.
Laughter is the common denominator. We had such wonderful times. Yes, tough things happen but that’s just life. We bumbled through as best we could.
I wouldn’t miss this part of life for quids. Afternoon chats about the small stuff that means nothing on the world stage but everything to us.
In my world, friendship is not about clocking in every day, it is about memories with simply wonderful people going back decades. It is about catching up with each other as if we saw each other yesterday. It is about the laughter and the tears, about our children and grandchildren.
It is about lives well-lived and shared, about everything from the mistakes to the successes.
