“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lately, I’ve written a few posts about friendship and loneliness. Perhaps it resonates with us more as we age and have time to reflect on our lives. So, I decided to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Two cases in point.

My wife and I recently returned from a Canadian Rockies trip with three other couples. One couple we’ve known for decades, the other two for just a little over two years—four people we didn’t know existed three years ago. We shared laughs, meals, and adventures together as great friends. More importantly, we created new memories and solidified friendships we’ll cherish for the rest of our lives.

Shortly after our travel party returned from Canada, my sister and I journeyed to Lake Gaston, a beautiful body of water that crosses the North Carolina-Virginia border. This is an annual outing to the lake house of our childhood friends who lived next-door to us. We grew up together. Other family members were there with us, but the four of us who were neighbors have known one another longer than we’ve known anyone else still alive.

We spent time together laughing, eating, and reliving old memories, some of which go back almost seventy years. (Seventy—really?) Distance prohibits us from getting together more often than just this one time a year, but those few days of reconnecting are very special.

And, yes, at times we were stupid with each other, or maybe “silly” is a bit less impolite. The point is: Those of us with hair could afford to let it down, without judgment!

While it’s true the two experiences differed from each other, their value was similar. Don’t we need people in our lives with whom we can share the past, as well as people with whom we can create new memories? Both equally enrich our lives and ward off the specter of loneliness, an insidious force that’s been shown to lead to physical and mental health disorders.

It’s been said, and I believe it to be true, that “people come into our lives for a reason, for a season, or for a lifetime.” Think about it. We work alongside others, but jobs come and go. Staffs change. People move on. Likewise, we make friends for a season of childhood, high school, or college, but we lose touch with most of these folks. People get busy and go their separate ways.

But, friends for a lifetime. Ah, that’s the “sweet spot.” Whether we’ve known them for decades or just a few years, we refuse to let them go. After all, friendships are more valuable than any of our personal assets.

Is there someone missing in your life with whom you need to reconnect? Maybe today will be the day! And when you find them, hold onto them tightly!