Visiting an Old Friend

Day 41


This is a special day as I will be visiting an old friend. His name is Bob and he lives in an assisted living facility in Bad Axe, Michigan, close to his daughter. I was dating their daughter back in the 70's and early 80's. Along with her brother, they were a second family to me. She visited her parents often, helping with her mother. Bob recently lost his wife of almost 60 years. This will be his first Christmas alone.

I've had some experience with losing someone so close to me. A holiday can be a very hard time. I'm sure his daughter and son will visit and that should be a big help. I go to visit an old friend. We'll talk and disagree about the days issues, as we have done since we first met. Just playful banter. We'll reminisce about the old times because those are mostly what we have in common. And we'll probably disagree about those too. We'll skim over the rough spots and remember the good times.

We may make a confession or two about some old conflict we had that never really mattered, although they seemed so important at the time. I like to believe I've moved on from the head strong and sometimes immature youth that I was then. I'm sure he'll remind me of some of the highlights.

With today's social media, where it's a competition to have as many online "friends" as possible, it just seems we've lost the true meaning of friendship. We send our thoughts, feelings and experiences out onto the internet for all to see and read. It's like a huge popularity contest. Today people tell all to their online friends, things we would never have told anyone but our closest best friend. I guess I'm just out of touch.

So I make the two and a half hour drive to see an old friend and tell a few tales on this Sunday afternoon.

Until tomorrow,

Ken