Friendship

Friends are important. Each has his/her own domain. I mean domain/s that we share, interests, opinions, longings, values. Each gives me new thoughts, shows me a particular strength. Last evening I had dinner with a long time friend, and with her I need to check a couple of times per year whether our singular evolutions still follow different roads while coming to similar conclusions. In these talks we are ruthlessly honest about what we want, need, would like. We’re honest about our uncertainties, our frailties, ailments and fears. We have cried together and laughed. I have told her about some of my other friends: Rockcastle, the astrologer, Dr Scarpone, my Peace Buddy, and others you have met on this blog… Once in a while our being finite comes up, mortality and neither of us writing that all-important letter to our daughter quite yet. The letter that should reassure and console, give warmth and acceptance; a letter that would explain about the time of rocks, how the sand gets to the sea, arrives in the oceans. We want to write about the wind whispering, caressing, bringing tears to your eyes and leaving a message on water. Oh, we feel we have time, and talk about retirement, the need to do more, different things, expand our experiences. We know we’ll work still for a while but keep the end date ‘flexible’… We care about our job, even talked about how to coach young colleagues… But I think neither of us is defined by the job. We are defined by how we perceive the world and interact with it; how our heartbeat picks up the pulse of the world and responds to it. We are also defined by the people we care for.