When an old, dear friend passes
31 May 2025
We should appreciate our friends more.
From a recent post by Robert Reich:
When an old friend passes, you can’t replace them with another old friend. You have only a certain number of old friends.
A limited number of people share your history. A limited number have moved through life with you. A limited number have talked and laughed and pondered their lives with you over the years.
A limited number of people have told you about their marriages and their kids and their hopes and frustrations, and you have done the same with them. As they age and as you age, you have gone through changes together.
It’s these cumulative understandings — the sweetness and depth of long familiarity, over breakfasts and dinners and celebrations and disappointments — that give integrity and meaning to strong friendships.
Old friends are irreplaceable. When they pass, a piece of you passes.
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