Thursday last I received an email and then a phone call from an old friend.  On Friday we catched up over a three-hour coffee.  At school we were best friends.  We shared interests, and spend a lot of our time together.  It was without doubt the most emotionally intense friendship I’ve ever had, perhaps partly because teenage emotions are all pretty intense.  After school our paths diverged.  We made contact a couple of times; the last time was about 9 or 10 years ago.  But, as per the cliche, we have always been able to pick up our friendship immediately.  This is not true for anyone else I know, at least not in the same degree, and it is something I treasure very much.

I am still very fond of my friend and I hope that we can stay in contact a little more frequently.  Our friendship shaped me in ways I probably do not understand.  It is not merely a biographical detail but continues in some way to be the standard by which I measure my friendships.  Just after school I was saddened by the fact that I would never have as a good a friend again, but I have come to realize over the years, as I suspect everyone does, that each friendship is a unique bond, to be valued in its own right.  No two friendships are the same and each plays a different role in our lives.

The friends I have now are scattered across the world over many countries.  But I am very happy to have seen my old friend again, to have recognized the same glint in his eyes that I knew whenI was young, and to have enjoyed the originality and excitement of a conversation with him.  In some way it has strengthened all my friendships.