- Belated Joy -

Oh my, this was a post I wrote back in March 2014 and never posted - better late than never right!

March: 2014

Sometimes the best Birthday gift of all doesn't come wrapped in shiny paper or tucked inside a card.  It doesn't come with a cake, candles or song - it just arrived one morning, a simple message in the Primary folder of my gmail box. 

Nothing of note or exception, just an email, an ordinary email ...

Here is my response to that email ...

Dear friend, 

I can't tell you how happy & excited I was the other day when I opened my gmailbox & saw you name listed in the unread mail column - it is such a joyful & happy feeling to know that I was in your thoughts & memories today.

 -  What a wonderful Birthday Surprise - 

I love hearing from you & as I read and then reread your eletter I was struck by the fact that we have now, somehow, reached the age where talk of 'hip replacement surgery' has crept into our conversation and it isn't an update on our grandparents or even our parents health!   

This startles me for a moment and I think, yes we are older but so what!  With age comes wisdom - and at worst we are now just wise old women with aging knees, slightly bent backs & graying hair but we are still here!

We are here despite all that life has thrown at us and while nature works tirelessly in the background to blur & muddy our memories , I struggle to remember my youth, my Canada days and our friendship.  Your friendship is a welcome & enduring tether to my past.  

While we write today of children never met, homes never visited  and of lives never seen we do so with the familiarity & ease that only old friends can know.  A letter from you opens a lifetime of memories; plum wine, crocheted vests, elephant pants, 1st loves, and many hours of chatting on phone -bike rides, car rides, bus trips & ski trips.   

And with that in mind my dear old friend, I refuse to think of us as old, we are timeless -you will always be forever young to me, in part I think, because while our friendship arcs across my entire life-story it no longer involves the wear & tear of everyday life.  I  now see you mainly through the lens of long ago or far away and I think that it is a wonderful thing, albeit wrapped in a lonely sadness at the same time. 

So thank you for the birthday wishes and the years of friendship and know that even though we now smile on what we once smirked at; senior discounts, comfortable shoes, conveniently located restrooms you will always and forever be a young girl, a teenager, a friend for life in my eyes.

Thanks for the wonderful birthday gift & Happy BDay to you as well

.......

I love this crazy, tragic,

Sometimes almost magic,

Awful, beautiful life

.......

- N -