Enduring Friendships

It has been hard to keep up with my friends during the isolation of COVID-19. Emails, social media, Zoom meetings, and other types of electronic communication do not equal face to face time. I identify as an introvert but need a certain amount of personal interaction each day. My contract job during the pandemic has given me the human contact I need, allowing me to work with many fine people. as well as making new friends. But I miss the friends who know me well, with whom there is history and no pretense. We know each other's strengths and faults and while we have differences, we have common bonds. 

The provincial stay-at-home order ended a couple of days ago and one of my friends invited me to walk a trail with her this morning. She is a physiotherapist too and we worked together for 15 years. We share a birth year and have had many experiences together. 

I had to laugh as we got out of our respective vehicles, seeing two mature women in long pants, UV protective shirts, hers blue and mine pink. sun hats, sunglasses and shoes with orthotic inserts.  We were both prepared for mosquitoes, ticks and sun overexposure on a very warm day. 

What a beautiful day it was on the trail with lovely views of the river! We walked through meadows, forests, wetlands and urban landscapes. We haven't been together since last fall so there was a lot of catching up to do. 

Bouncing Betty or Wild Sweet William

I have other dear friends from various stages of my life. My longest friendship started when we were nine years old and in the same grade 5 class in Toronto. We will not walk a trail together, but she is brilliant, an amazing and stimulating conversationalist as well as being an incredibly thoughtful and kind person. Best friends are rare gems. 

Grandma D was very sociable and lived independently in the community until her death just before her 94th birthday. Many of her friends passed away before her but she had a gift of making new ones easily. She was interested in the stories of other people and was a generous, unselfish person. 

Large conk of a bracket fungus

I read the obituary today of a lady I met several years ago. She died this week at the age of 108 and outlived her daughter by several years. (Her brother is still alive at 105. Talk about good genes!) After the death of her daughter she moved to a retirement home where she "quickly fell into a new routine and spent many a happy day walking, visiting, reading and eating ice cream."

Nonagenarians and centenarians are some of the most resilient and interesting people I have met. Happy days spent walking, visiting and reading, along with a little ice cream may be simple keys to a fulfilling life. 

“A friend is one that knows you as you are,

understands where you have been,

accepts what you have become, and still,

gently allows you to grow.”

William Shakespeare