Friendship

​It is amazing how one thing can change everything.  I received a phone call from a mate of mine today who told me the doctor had given him four weeks max.  With what he had been going through it was not unexpected, but it was still unexpected.
Arr the joys of getting older.  As this person said, “somethings gonna get you.”  While I know that is true it does not necessarily make it easier when it happens.  Dad lived long and prospered but he gave up reading the obituaries because there was no one left.  He was the last man standing.
This guy and I have shared a number of things together.  We had similar dreams, and we worked to make them happen for each other.
What has made this relationship especially special to me was the fact we could agree to disagree.  There have been times we held diametrically opposing views.  Yet that never spelled the end of friendship.  We learned to agree to disagree.
I remember feeling I needed to ring him but waited several days to do so.  He told me it was lucky I did not ring him the day before as the reaction would have been different.  So often people say it is ok if we disagree but that can be the start of a separation.  A view is held as more important than a relationship.  I feel time is not the enemy of an honest person.  Time may alter views, but it will never alter an attitude of love.
 He is, in my opinion, full of good ideas.  I was not always in a position to follow through on them, but I was always in a position to support.
The saying may be “age shall not weary them,” but for those that grow old age does weary them.  I heard someone say something the other day I thought was really good.  They indicated they used to do everything and now they just do what they feel they are meant to do.
I like that.  There comes a time when to do what I used to do is not possible.  The spirit may remain willing, but the flesh is weak.  Yet while the scope of what can be done diminishes the desire to do so remains unchanged.  The ability may have changed but more tends to be focused on less.
Dad was into photography before the modern age.  Filters were chosen and changed to get the desired effect.  My mate and I use mostly the same filter but for some things we use different ones.
There is one though we use the same filter on.  Because of it I know that what ever road is taken on the journey, we are heading to the same location.  Any interruption is only temporary.