Friends and fellow confidants,  I wanted you to know that....
 
Today is my best friend's birthday.
He lives on the east coast, and our lives over nearly forty years, have gone in different directions.   But still, he is my best friend.   Over the years, we have had our ups and downs.  We've fought, we've cared for and protected one another.   We've made up, we've argued, and we - somehow - have carried on into these mid-life years.  It is one of the many miracles I've witnessed in my life.
 
Today is my best friend's birthday. 
 
At fifty, he - and I - show a little more gray than once we did.  At fifty, we laughingly recall the many rock concerts we attended here and there.   At fifty, there are warm, quiet smiles for the durability of affection, and the power of love.   At fifty, we have shed some of our former concerns and gained, not only pounds, but new cares and new passions.
 
This man is a giant. 
 
He is gentle and profound.  He is funny and deeply somber.    He is wise.   There is a fathomless depth in his spirit that bespeaks a journey, not only of time and miles, but of wonder and yes......faith.
 
Today is my best friend's birthday.
And the odd thing is - though I cannot attend his wonderful party - and though I am guilty of not enough calls or emails....the odd thing is....that I'm the one with the present.  I have had the gift these many years.
 
So happy birthday, Jim.
Thanks for the gift of you.
 
I wonder if anyone else reading this has true friends who are far off and away?
It could be miles or other sorts of distance.   Maybe it's verticle distance...a wall....of anger or dysfunction.  But I wonder if others drift as we have drifted?   Maybe today, on my best friend's birthday, old friendships can be reclaimed.  What a way to celebrate!   Maybe today, coiled up lines of communication can be opened.  Maybe today something different, something old and new can emerge.
 
Today's my best friend's birthday.....and I'm the one who got the present.
 
 
Schuyler