Have you ever wondered what keeps a friendship going; how some people can come into your life taking their place as your friend and within a year or so fade out just as easily as they came in? Or how some people just seem to be there because you worked with them and developed a friendship with them and for whatever reason they took their place in your life for a very long time and became somewhat of a "rock or cornerstone" in your life?
"Forsake not an old friend; for the new is not comparable to him: a new friend is as new wine; when it is old, thou shall drink it with pleasure."
This is a religious quote from Sirach 9:10. It depicts both David's and my view of a friendship and how it should be, not as we have always experienced it, but how it should be especially when you are growing older and seeking deeper meaning to the bonds that bind each of us in our lives today. David's long-time colleague and friend Norm is one of his most trusted friends. They have traveled and worked together and have know each other for many, many years both in a work setting and in their lives outside of the steel mill they both have been married to for nearly 30 years. Their friendship has evolved and remains strong as both of them have experienced life changes, personal heartbreaks and age appropriate milestones.
After spending the last two days with Norm and his wife Barb, David and I felt blessed and honored to be the recipients of such loving, genuine grace. As we get older, David and I spend a great deal of time talking about things that have and should have an enormous impact on us! Things like personal accountability, family, health issues, broken hearts and disappointments, things that we view as blessings and particular relationships that somehow assure us that we are perhaps on the right path in our spiritual journey though this ever changing, challenging, more mature life. You know...the things that lead you to search for a greater sense of peace and understanding, the things that impact you and those around you?
