When Other Friendships Have Been Forgot, Ours Will Not

I had lunch with a bunch of friends Friday. It was in celebration of "the baby" quitting her job with our old company that was once paradise that turned into you know where.

The rest of us had been long gone.

There are all sorts of reasons it took her longer to leave. She interned with the agency and then was hired. She'd been there fourteen years.

But looking at all the women around the table, I saw a lifetime of friendship. Most of them I've known since my twenties.

The others at least a dozen years or more.

We've watched each other go from young adults to....um, what we are now. The ages range from the baby being in her late thirties (no! I've watched her graduate, get married, have children....) to early sixties (no again!).

I supervised all these women but one, most of them for many  years. Our workplace was a family. We loved each other, we prayed for each other. Sometimes folks even fussed with each other, but usually got over it.

It was a joy working with these women, and it's a joy to have them as my friends.

Sometimes it would appear we have more differences than things in common. But as I've said, true friendship is forever, in spite of differences. Because love bridges those differences, every single time, in a true friendship.

We laughed and talked and tried to hear what everybody was saying at the same time and not miss a thing. We don't get together often enough. In spite of some of us already retiring, we are all so "busy", you know.

Don't get me wrong. I think all of us talk to each other from time to time. I try to keep in touch regularly with each of them.  These women are "mine" after all. I was responsible for them for years, and I guess that feeling  never leaves. When  you feel responsible for someones welfare for a long time, that feeling stays forever.

Ask any parent.

I'm  not saying they were my children. They are my peers. But at work, in order to be a good boss, you must have responsibility for the welfare of those who answer to  you. It's your job, and if you are a half way decent boss, it should be your passion.

So, anyway, we had a great lunch. We gabbed and laughed and ate when we weren't gabbing and laughing. But to be honest, I could have been eating sawdust. I was too busy having a good time to notice.

I could ponder on where time has gone, like everyone else has done, but we all know.

TIME MARCHES ON.

And it's marched all over my face!