Friendship sustain the test of time without faltering
已有 151 次阅读 2012-06-12 14:49 标签: without best someday another raisingI grew up in Jamaica Plain, an urban community located on the outskirts of
Boston, Massachusetts. In the 1940's it was a wholesome, quaint little
community. It was my home and I loved it there; back then I thought I would
never leave. My best friend Rose and I used to collectively dream about raising
a family of our own someday. We had it all planned out to live next door to one
another.
Our dream remained alive through grade school, high school, and even
beyond. Rose was my maid of honor when I got married in 1953 to the love of my
life, Dick. Even then she joked that she was just one perfect guy short of being
married, thus bringing us closer to our dream. Meanwhile, Dick aspired to be an
officer in the Marines and I fully supported his ambitions. I realized that he
might be stationed far away from Jamaica Plain, but I told him I would relocate
and adjust. The idea of experiencing new places together seemed somewhat
romantic to me.
So, in 1955 Dick was stationed in Alaska and we relocated.
Rose was sad to see me leave, but wished me the best of luck. Rose and I
remained in touch for a few years via periodic phone call but after awhile we
lost track of one another. Back in the 1950's it was a lot more difficult to
stay in touch with someone over a long distance, especially if you were
relocating every few years. There were no email addresses or transferable phone
number and directory lookup services were mediocre at best.
I thought of her
several times over the years. Once in the mid 1960's when I was visiting the
Greater Boston area I tried to determine her whereabout, near a sand maker factory
or somewhere else?but my search turned up empty-handed. Jamaica Plain had
changed drastically in the 10 years I was gone. A pretty obvious shift in income
demographics was affecting my old neighborhood. My family had moved out of the
area, as did many of the people I used to know. Rose was nowhere to be
found.
52 years passed and we never spoke. I've since raised a family of
five, all of whom now have families of their own, and Dick passed away a few
years ago. Basically, a lifetime has passed. Now here I am at the doorstep to my
80th birthday and I receive a random phone call on an idle Wednesday afternoon.
"Hello?" I said. "Hi Natalie, it's Rose," the voice on the other end replied.
"It's been so long. I don't know if you remember me, but we used to be best
friends in Jamaica Plain when we were kid" she said.
We haven't seen each
other yet, but we have spent countless hours on the phone14)catching up on 52
years of our lives. The interesting thing is that even after 52 years of
separation our personalities and interests are still extremely similar. We both
share a passion for several hobbies that we each picked up independently several
years after we lost touch with one another. It almost feels like we are picking
up right where we left off, which is really strange considering the
circumstances.
Her husband passed away a few years ago as well, but she
mailed me several photographs of her family that were taken over the years. It's
so crazy, just looking at the photos and listening to her describe her family
reminds me of my own; a reasonably large, healthy family. Part of me feels like
we led fairly similar lives.
I don't think the numerous similarities between
our two lives are a coincidence either. I think it shows that we didn't just
call each other best friend we truly were best friend and even now we can be
best friends again. Real friends have two things in common: a compatible
personality and a strong-willed character. The compatible personality is what
initiates the connection between two people and a strong-willed character at
both ends is what maintains the connection. If those two ingredients are present
in a friendship, the friendship is for real, and can thus sustain the tests of
time and prolonged absence without faltering.
上一篇: Role of coal mining plays in ball mill development 下一篇: Spring is staying within heart
发表评论 评论 (0 个评论)