picking up where we left off

It’s a beautiful idea, especially between friends.

I was struck by the reality of this during the weekend while Sarah and I travelled to Regina and were part of Anna and Daniel’s wedding.  The first person I saw as we arrived at St. Mary’s for the wedding rehearsal was Sean.  Here’s a friend who I’ve RAed in my second year, who I RAed a dorm with in my third year, who I shared an office with in my fifth year.  A good friend, a man I’ve had some great conversations with, and some great bouts of laughter too.  And it was so good to return to that.  To find that the relationship is right there, ready to be ‘dusted off’ in a sense, and started afresh again.

Now, obviously, this does not always happen with friends.  I remember a friend of my once saying that you can only really have 10 or so close friends.  Friends who you pour into, and who pour into you.  I’m not sure if that’s true, but I have definitely seen friendships drift apart.  Perhaps your first reaction to this, like me, is to get worried and try to work hard to keep that friendship enriched.  Yet sometimes, I think it’s natural—perhaps even right—that we drift apart.  Life changes, and so do we.

That’s what is so interesting about picking up again.  Even though life can change—sometimes drastically—there are those people, albeit, unfortunately for some, a rare few, who regardless of the gradual, natural drifting can easily become companions again.  There are those kindred spirits who, after that first hug and hello, slip back again into the camaraderie they once knew.  And that is something to never take for granted.

So here’s to those friends who we saw this weekend: may you be blessed, just as you have blessed me.  Our time together is sometimes too short.  So let’s savour every moment, and sop up the last bit of gravy with a good piece of bread.