Friendship

This weekend was a social whirlwind. My friends Ed and Martin came to town, and we spent Friday night with them at Kathy and Alan's. Alan took Erik on a ride on his new motorcycle. Needless to say, Erik was in heaven. Erik gets truly excited when I tell him we are going to visit Dominick and talks about him nonstop. He is also asking me often about his friend Sammy! Finally I can say that my kid likes other kids.

Saturday my college friend Steve arrived from New York with his wife Amy. I truly believe Steve and I were destined to be friends. I answered my phone in my dorm room one lonely evening 17 years ago, and Steve was on the other end. Our friendship began that night through a random, playful prank phone call as he hung out with buddies. Because he made me laugh, I kept on the line. We have been talking ever since. When we began to lose touch during college, as luck would have it, he came into the drugstore where I worked with an application, and we rekindled our friendship again as coworkers. I know it sounds bizarre, but it was just meant to be. When I flew to Denver to attend my friend Becky's wedding in 1999, Brian was unable to go with me but gave me the green light to take Steve instead, who lived in Colorado at the time. Steve was a gigantic hit with my friends at the wedding, and the trip ended up being one of the greatest vacations ever for most of us (Steve wisely said it was the second best wedding he had attended). Ed and Steve hadn't seen each other since that wedding, and they met once again this weekend. We laughed ourselves sick.

Saturday Ed, Martin, Steve, and Amy came to the house, and we all went on a walk across the road in the sagebrush. The weather cleared up in the afternoon and treated us to bright blue skies and a view of the snowcapped mountains. Brian and I took them on an impromptu tour of the cave across the street. I hadn't gone inside it yet, and I was surprised at how large of a room it was. Brian went down first to make sure we weren't disturbing anyone using the place as a lava motel. After our brief spelunking adventure and then an hour of exploring the dirt trails in the fresh air, we headed for a nearby restaurant and ate until we hurt. The smell of guano and cave didn't slow us down one bit in the dinner department. Steve's friend Steve joined our group for dinner. Ed and Martin said their goodbyes afterwards, and the rest of us drank beer and ate baked goods (oy!) back at the house, retiring fairly early.

As the weekend went on, our group got smaller each time we assembled. This morning Erik and I met Steve, Steve, and Amy at a bakery for breakfast, where Erik shared my scrambled eggs, toast, and yogurt. He consumed a bowl of cereal before we left the house but ate again with gusto. I said goodbye to the three of them after we enjoyed our meal, and then it was officially Monday morning. And here I sit. I feel very lonely now.

I have thought a lot about my friends this weekend. As we age, our lives change dramatically. These changes, positive or negative, test the friendships we have. I lost touch with some friends because we no longer had things in common as our lives changed. Some friends had children before I did, and we lost touch. As I look back, I can see there are a handful of friends that have remained constant in my life, even if we are separated by many miles or don't talk very often. The magic is still there when we see each other again. It is an even bigger bonus to realize the people my friends chose to spend their lives with are equally enjoyable to spend time with. What can I say? The people I love have excellent taste. Equally important are the new online friendships I have been lucky enough to gain through Erik, and I hope that as life changes for our children, our friendships will strengthen over the years.