Friendships for life

An eventful weekend has come and gone. I spent Friday evening with one of my oldest friend that I’m still in touch with, a Swedish farmer’s daughter who now lives with a Dane and works in Brussels. We had dinner, drank wine, played Scrabble and chatted. She knows me perhaps not better than most people but in a profound way. Most of my very close friends here have never seen the house I grew up in, my family, my hometown, and they haven’t followed me through life in presence, by letters, e-mail or hearsay, but U. has always been there. We went to high school together, our parents worked together, and we know all the same people from home. We have not only gone through a lot together and separately, but we also come from the same type of home and upbringing; we have a mutual understanding of the world. However not always of the same idea - I grew up in a socialist home and she in a conservative home - we understand each other well. We’ve lost contact; got in touch again, moved to Belgium together, got separated only to find each other again a few years ago. It's the kind of friendship where we can loose contact for a couple of years, only to pick up where we left it as soon as we see each other again. No explanations necessary, no apologies needed. If I cancel a dinner at the last minute, she understands; if she needs to get away for a night because her Dane is having a group of guys over, she's always welcome, even without notice; if I don't call her for weeks, no worries; if she calls me every day, great. It's a friendship for life. I count my blessings to have not only one friendship like this one, but several, and they all have something unique about them. This one is one of my oldest.

By Lovain