We had a gathering last night of friends. Old friends, new friends, Camino friends and neighborhood friends. The common denominator was that we were all friends.
A couple friends that were not here, played their part in this gathering as well. Bernie and Nigel were here through Nigel’s gift to Rick, his book Handed Down. And our friend Katja was here in her video presentation of Leberknodel 2.0. Katja, when you read this, it was a big hit, thank you!
I described this party to a friend as a Venn Diagram of the perfect gathering. Perfect in the sense that all the right people, under the correct circumstances came together at the right moment.
I’d been trying to connect 2 friends, Renee and ‘G’, our neighbor who we saw while we were in Dublin. I figured, they had a lot in common and they’d make good company.
I’ve been trying to get Kathy and Tim in to meet some of our group of friends, once again, I thought it would be a good mixture.
Steve and Chris, a.k.a., The Professors were in town and they got to meet some of the locals as well, they’re always a good addition and, I got to hear about their latest Camino adventures.
Sarah and Madison were able to make it, I know how hard it can be to get to Dallas from both San Antonio and College Station, I’m glad they could make it, I don’t get to see them enough.
These two in particular I was happy to see because of something that I told them last year that was correct but, incomplete. I told them that they were lucky to have this group around them. I didn’t mean that they were lucky to be around us but, they were lucky to be accepted (and to accept) as peers because, at their age I never really had the opportunity to be around a group of older people who accepted me as a peer.
What I later discovered was that it was not them that was lucky, it was me. Their intelligence, outlook, sense of humor and curious nature reminded me that I too still have those skills and abilities and that it’s okay to see the world from a different place, to question and to challenge the norms and expectations. I told them that last night and I wanted to tell anyone who reads this, reach out and embrace anyone and everyone, sometimes you have to take the first step and make that effort. Thank’s to both of them!
Thanks to my friends in Germany, Northern Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa. We missed you all. I’m a very lucky man. We’re a lucky group to have such a diverse, interesting and caring friends.
The diagram does not define the best group or mix of friends. It does though represent the best group of friends in this moment. The spheres are constantly moving and the sweet spot is always changing, as it should. Next time, it may be a different collection with the same results, temporary perfection. Huh, temporary perfection, sort of contradictory because that would mean that there is no, true, perfection. I would agree with that, life is dynamic and it should be that way.
There’s a lesson here I see. Don’t get caught thinking that everything is perfect (good or bad) because it will change. How we handle that change really defines us (me). That truly is a lesson that I learned on the Camino.
Friends are, the greatest gift in the world!