The above is from a song titled “Old Friends”, music and lyrics by Sondheim. Yes, I’m a huge musical and theatre buff! Liza Minnelli does a really nice cover of this song. But I digress.

Old friends. Sometimes you take them for granted. They’re just…there. In the background, not doing much, but not causing a lot of problems either. They are comfortable like a pair of old slippers.

Now? When the shite has hit the fan and we’re doing our part to social distance? When we’re under huge amounts of stress? When we need friends more than ever? That’s when friends are important. And it doesn’t matter if we rarely see them in person, or if we text, talk on the phone, e-mail, FaceTime, Zoom, or any other platform-old friends are the ones that are going to be there for us. They are the ones to whom we’ll unburden our souls. When the tears come, and the grief washes over us; when we are angry and shaking with rage and want to punch someone; or when we just want someone to LISTEN to us without judgment. And of course, when we’re madly in love or madly in lust.

Old friends are the foundations of our relationships, and our lives. They are there to keep everything from falling apart in our lives.

Is that to say that new friends are useless? Of course not. Simply put…in order to have old friends, they have to start out as new friends. So give new friends a chance. Let them in slowly. Take their measure and see how they stack up. Keep an open mind and watch for signs that they’ll be around for a long time to come.

This pandemic is going to stress us out, and it will be a hard time to go through without friends–both old and new.

This is my shout out to my old friends. The friends that are closing onto 30 years and the new friends who WILL become old friends. Thank you. Thank you for being there for me, and I thank you for the privilege of allowing me into your life.

This is also a shout out to those former friends and friendships which had to end because it was better for both of us. This includes people that were more than friends and less than lovers. We had some amazing times, and I’m happy for those good times. I think one can be happy for the good times, and sad for the bad times all at the same time.

There’s a jazz classic, “They Can’t Take That Away from Me”.

“The way your smile just beams
The way you sing off key
The way you haunt my dreams
No no they can’t take that away from meWe may never never meet again
On the bumpy road to love
Still I’ll always, always keep the memory ofThe way you hold your knife
The way we danced till three
The way you changed my life
No no they can’t take that away from me
No they can’t take that away from me.”

I love that song (lyrics and music by the Gershwin brothers). Basically, it says despite the bad times that happened, no one will be able to take away the good times. I think that’s a really positive and healthy way of looking at failed friendships. Don’t dwell on the ugly, but remember the good and take that going forward.

So…I figured I’d quote the rest of the song. I hope everyone is finding comfort in their friendships during this trying time.

“Hey, old friend,
Are you okay, old friend?
What do you say, old friend,
Are we or are we unique?
Time goes by,
Everything else keeps changing.
You and I,
We get continued next week.

Most friends fade
Or they don’t make the grade.
New one’s are quickly made
And in a pinch, sure, they’ll do.
But us, old friend,
What’s to discuss, old friend?
Here’s to us ? who’s like us?
Damn few!”

That’s all for now. I hope some of my friends are reading this, and if so, please free to comment!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGht7t1P_Q4