Today is the birthday of a dear friend of many, many years.
Our first encounter was not particularly pleasing for him.
For a sensitive person, I can often be very callous
and I hurt people without my realizing it with my sarcastic and acerbic remarks.
I one time cut him down with a withering comment, out of nowhere and unprovoked.
He kept his quiet. Instead, he took it with equanimity and let it pass.
He was forgiving and left the door open for us to still become friends later on.
Over the years, I have experienced his love and concern in many ways,
often unexpected and ‘unprovoked’.
There was a year, early in our marriage, Anabelle and I invited him for dinner.
He came, we enjoyed dinner and then went off to see a movie.
As we were about to end the night, he says:
“Thank you for making my birthday today special.”
Anabelle and I both blurted out, “What? It’s your birthday today?”
And we all had a good laugh.
In gratitude and deep appreciation, with humility, I pray for him today
and for my other friends who have shown me what real love and caring are,
by sharing with me their time, talents and treasures
and, most specially, their presence in my life.
Thank you. Beyond these two words, nothing more need be said. Between the two words though, there has been and will continue to be a lifetime of shared experiences, emotions and memories whose breadth and depth words alone cannot cover. So again, thank you, my friend!
Often I think of our friendship as beyond words. Presence – that is what it is.