I’m grateful for my old friends—‘old’ as in ‘age,’ not the length of our friendship. They are active and vital and inspirational. They are perceptive, quick and often hilarious without meaning to be. Each one of them has enriched my life in a way that’s hard to explain; all I know is that there’s something about them that I want to emulate.
One of my old friends is 80; this winter we are neighbors at the RV resort. Yesterday she asked me to go with her to a local resale shop she’d never been to before to take a bag of donations. She drove (a Ford F150, and very well at that) and did a great job parking. She uses a walker, so I adjust my pace accordingly. She’s good for me in that regard. We shopped and both took home something. That was an hour and a half well spent.
This morning, in the middle of my devotionals, I thought of a friend back in Hopkinsville. When something random like that happens, I take it as a spiritual nudge to act. So I did. I looked her up in my contacts, intending to text her a “Hey, I’m thinking about you!” message, but my thumb accidentally pressed her phone number instead of the text icon. I immediately caught my mistake and cancelled the call even before it went through. Or so I thought. My old friend called me back.
At first the conversation was awkward because it’s been years since we’ve talked. We are the most UNlikely of friends: she is always in style, dressed to the nines, always put together. I don’t even wear make-up. But within a minute or less, we connected and had a great conversation. We reminisced about the last time we were together—a Dwight Yoakum concert, of all things. I told her I’d be there in May, and we promised we’d try to get together then. I’d love that.
Besides these, I am blessed to have lots of other old friends. When I was young and naive and stupid, I feared getting old. I associated ‘age’ with the ability to enjoy life. I couldn’t have been further off base.
My old friends have inspired me to keep on keeping on at whatever it is that I love, because that will keep me young. I’m grateful for the blessing of having these wonderful old women in my life.
They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, ~Psalm 92:14
