A meeting with friends

As I sit here, my dogs are on the couch behind me asleep, Zelda is laying off to my left, Kaiser is propped up over the armrest to my right. Both are obviously exhausted and very deep in sleep (it is after all almost 3 am).

I had a great happy hour/early evening snack with two friends I came to know through a previous job. Our friendship has maintained the strains of time, new jobs and all of the other stuff that enters ones life. We have shared outings to restaurants, clubs, plays, social events, Christmas parties at one anothers house and otherwise impromptu gettogethers. As well as all of the ups and downs that come with life: family issues, deaths, losing a beloved pet, breakups, work, finances etc.

Tonight was when I officially informed them I was heading off to seminary in August. Our get together wasn't designed for that but as anyone knows when longtime friends get together once in a blue moon, the biggest news of the day comes first. Not that this was most important, but I've been at other such get togethers to hear someone's promotion, pregnancy, impending move, etc. So, I guess it is natural my move was the topic of the evening.

Of course they were supportive. And loving. They may not have thought they were projecting it, but I felt love. A connection going back years, especially as we reminisced over times spent together. It felt like none of us really wanted to leave. Being a work night for them and they needing to get back to their partners, of course it had to end. If we'd been in our early 20s on a Friday night, well, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this. But it was time to end.

In my mind I also felt that they didn't want it to end because they knew it was one of the last times they would see me before I left. Hopefully I will see them plenty in the coming years. But I also sensed the emotional vibe we all get when saying goodbye to a co-worker we have known for years.

Yes, we both promise to stay in touch and may in fact do so for a while.

I don't want to think about what happens after that. I feel I am walking a similar path as they are, finding our faith, working things out. I hope our paths not only cross again, but cross multiple times. I hope to grow old with friends like this.

If you are reading this, you two, you know who you are, I love you and will always have the most fondest place in my heart for you.

Further on up the road, yes, but I hope sooner and more often than we all think.