Going for the Gold: Nurturing Old Friendships

Today I got together with a friend from college, someone i've known for 35 years. I was reminded of the old folk rhyme:

Make new friends but keep the old;

One is silver and the other is gold.

As most of us get older, the list of active older friendships pares down. When ourlives get busy, it may be tempting to let them go to seed. But old friends are the ones who know us from a long time back. The accrual of memories feels like the layers of an onion; peel back far enough and you arrive at the core, which may be a truer representation of your self than the face you show to the world now.

She and I agreed that from now on, we'll get together quarterly rather than let an entire year go by without meeting. We live in different cities, separated by a river. Our schedules don't mesh well. But we have to make the effort. Gold is too precious to waste.