Keeping Up with Old Friends

Over the course of my life I have figured out some things about myself. One of those is if friends move away no matter how beloved they might be to me I just sort of lose track of them especially if they aren’t on some kind of social media.

A few years back a really good friend of mine from church was moving to another state and he asked if we would come see them. I said… probably not.

You see in my life I’m all about accomplishing things and a good day is one where I get a lot done and that’s where my time and mind is focused.

So here’s what I have come up with. Within the past year I started writing down on a piece of paper (that I keep at my office) the names of people that I need to call from time to time. On that list of paper are the names of 3-4 preachers that I have been associated with over the years. There’s the name of a retired drug rep. who I have known for over thirty years. There’s the names of a few people that I went to college with. There’s the name of a Veterinarian that I used to work for years ago.

The other day I called an old preacher friend and we got to talking about another preacher that we both knew who I hadn’t talked to in years (because he’s not on my list) so I told my friend I was going to hang up and call the other preacher like right now and I did. I talked to the other preacher and his wife (who are both in their mid 80’s) and had a really nice visit. I think it meant a lot to them that I had called.

I called another friend who I hadn’t talked to in a few years and found out that he had been battling cancer.

Any way I guess I realized that I had sort of a handicap when it came to keeping up with old friends but fortunately I figured out a crutch to help me out with my handicap.

Don’t wait to hear about your old friends when you read their obituaries call them now it will be good for you and them.