Goodbye Dear Friend
Twenty years. That’s a long time. Who could have imagined that we would have been together this long? Certainly, not me. I’ve polled friends and family. Some were able to toss up some impressive numbers of longevity themselves–but not twenty years. No one came even close.
We met in the most ordinary of places, purely by happenstance. I certainly had not sought you out, nor you I. I am sure of this. Sometimes the most meaningful and enduring of all relationships begin in just such a manner. Ours was to be no different.
Through good times, you have been with me. And bad. You’ve seen my happiness, my pain, my sorrow. You have been with me for the best times of my life. You were there when I first kissed my then to be wife. You were there when I picked out her ring. You were there the first time I got a stamp in my passport, the first time I set foot on foreign soil. You were there when I was married. You were there when we bought our first home. You were there when my kids were born. You were there when my mother passed away. You have been privy to my every experience for the past twenty years.
Saying goodbye literally tears apart my soul. I knew this day would come, it had to. But honestly, I did not think it would be this difficult. I’m going to miss you old friend.
I bought that wallet twenty years ago in a little leather shop in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Ten dollars! Best ten dollars I ever spent. Yesterday, I retired the poor thing. It was coming apart at the seams and was wearing through in a couple of areas on the corners. It was not an easy thing to do. Today, I’m a little sad. Missing a dear friend.
