There’s a boat on the line
Where the sea meets the sky
There’s another that rides far behind
And it seems you and I are like strangers
A wide ways apart as we drift on through time
-- "Ships" - Barry Manilow
I love this song. LOVE. This song. And to those who wander by and make fun of me for listening to Barry Manilow - to you I say, "Pththth."
I have just returned from a nice dinner party. T&M had L&A and us over for sushi, beer bread with spinach dip, and an assortment of wine and cheeses. We laughed, reminisced, and basked in the glow that is only given off by companionships cured with layer upon layer of joy and tears and milestones and memories. It doesnt get any better than that.
These are the people who have been the constants in my life these latest years. I love them. They are my family.
Earlier today I was listening to "Ships" and it got me thinking about those that have drifted in and out of my life. I thought upon my tight knit group of friends from my art class in high school. I can remember sitting in class a few days before graduation, thinking these people have been a huge part of my every day for so long. Now we are graduating, going on to respective jobs or distantly spaced colleges. What is my life going to be without these people in it? As thrilled as I was to get high school behind me and get on with the business of pursuing my dreams, in some odd way the Pomp and Circumstance played at our graduation almost carried the flavor of a requiem for the life I had known with this band of brothers.
In the years that followed, I missed them terribly. But there were new friends to be made.
I had an 18 year reunion with 4 of these people a few months ago. With the exception of one, whom I had reconnected with a few years ago, I hadn't really seen any of them since we walked out of graduation. Yet we all survived without each other. Happily, we are all still well matched as friends.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about what mysterious material this gossamer thread is which ties us to those we hold most dear. Of what powerful stuff is made this force which makes years and baggage dissolve and carries us back to the last time we once stood together.
Why it sticks with some and not others, when at one time all stood on equal ground in our hearts.
How is it that one proverbial moment someone is so interwoven in our lives that we can't imagine it without their presence, and next thing you know, they are far away ~ maybe even out of sight. And you wonder how you never noticed.
Whom in my life now, that I hold so valuable and dear, will fall into this category in the future?
We’re still here
It’s just that we’re out of sight
Like those ships that pass in the night ...
2 days ago
1 comment:
Hey, I like Barry Manilow, too!
Though I loved high school and made many very good and true friends I have only kept in contact with a handful of them; some of those are simply through Christmas cards that often cross paths during the holiday season.
One friend, however, has lasted through time. My friend, Kris. We went to a consolidated high school and met when we were 15. Though we only get to see one another a couple of times a year, we are still very close in heart. We've been through all kinds of things, joys and trials. She is definitely one of the gifts in my life.
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