The Perennial Nature of the Relationships That Matter
Sometimes the relationships that are supposed to be foundational just aren’t.
I don’t have an immense amount of friends. I’m not the kind of person who acquires a friend during each new phase of my life, collecting them along the way like souvenirs from places I’ve visited. Nor would I ever have a birthday party with fifty of my closest friends and family members — and I like it this way. Instead of many, I have deep.
A few of my closest friends have been in my life since before I could even drive a car. We grew up together, made mistakes with one another, and had the kind of disparaging arguments that would shatter a relationship with even the slightest fracture. But these relationships of mine do not have fractures. No matter what happens between these friends and me, we will remain friends. It has been decided, and it’s never going to change. The same goes for some of the relationships I’ve made in adulthood, and for this, I am grateful — if not a little bit befuddled.
Why does it befuddle me? Because for a long time, longer than I like to admit, I allowed myself to believe that the foundational relationships upon which we build our lives can thrive and then they can wilt and eventually die; they can surrender to the harsh winter that all…
