Focus on Friends

Last night I stopped at my friend Bill’s house for a glass of wine. Well, a bottle...
We talked and laughed about dozens of things—including how much we both liked coffee,to travel and our friends. Then we talked about his best friend who passed away last year.

Bill got out his friend’s eulogy book (why didn’t I ever put one together for my mother?) and as we drank wine and talked, I read him all the lovely, touching and funny pages from the book. Bill and I read out loud a lot to each other. It’s a gift to have a friend to read to... and if you’ve never done it, it’s not quite as weird as you think.

We went to Kent, England and stayed at Hole Cottage two year’s ago. It’s one remaining wing of a once-much larger hall house. It is hidden away in the middle of the countryside and is now owned by the Landmark Trust. You have to hike a bit to get there, but it’s worth it to be so far away from everything.

There's a pub about a mile away, which we walked to in the dark of night. We talked with the locals, had a fabulous dinner and a pint, and brought home brie cheese and bread for the morning. There is nothing better than the aroma of brie on warm crusted bread, served with French pressed coffee and savored while sitting at a 400 year- old kitchen table.

We made a fire one night and read to each other from the visitors’ log. No T.V, no phone, just the sound of the fire, an occasional fox bustling outside and our reading and laughter.

When we weren’t talking, we enjoyed the joy of complete and utter silence. Did you know you can actually hear silence? Maybe it’s more of a feeling, but it’s there... and it envelopes you like nothing else.

I’m lucky to have many friends. They all fill a different purpose in my life and seem to always be there when I need them. I hope I am there for them as well. I try.

Although I never personally met Bill’s friend (he was Italian and gorgeous) I had talked with him on the phone. I feel like I knew him. And I felt a bit of him in the room last night as I read the Eulogy Bill had written. Bill’s words invited me into their friendship and their experiences.

I wonder what my friends would write about me?