This being my 50th year along with two of my closest friends we decided to finally meet up with school friends we hadn't seen for years. The first meeting happened in January when Sue (who I've known since I was 12 and meet on a regular 4 to 6 week basis, the only time we didn't see each other very much was in our 20's and 30's due to marriage and family commitments) and I met up with Irene who moved to London in her early 20's and her life has taken on a different direction to us. After getting over the change in hair colour for her it was as if we'd last met a week or a month ago instead of 30 years. We spent many hours catching up unfortunatley as I had another engagement that evening the day had to be cut short. But we did promise that it wouldn't be as long again before we meet otherwise we'll be on zimmer frames or one of those motorised chairs.
Last Friday with my other friend Sue (who I've known since I was 5 or 6 and we try and meet 2 or 3 times a year for lunch to catch up on the gossip, if not we converse by letter) we met up with Julie who we'd last seen 10 years ago and Linda who Sue meets regularly but I'd not seen since my late teens. I don't think I've laughed so much in ages, the banter between us and Linda's dry wit was just the same. I think the other people in the pub must have wondered what had hit them. Again the afternoon flew by and we all promised not to leave it to our 60th year to meet up again.
Why is we let our lives go on and not take time to meet people, I have family members that I haven't seen for 10 years or more, why is it a 'family occasion' be it an anniversary, marriage, christening or the worst a funeral has to happen before we get together, it's not just me but also them not taking the time. Perhaps they like me think of phoning then think I'll do that tomorrow, that becomes next week, then a month then before you know it a year, 5 years etc.............. Who knows?
.JPG)
