Old Friends

 I’ve been in Myrtle Beach since Tuesday evening, a few days late to a yearly get together with some old friends. Golfing is the game that gives the week its official purpose. And when this annual reunion began, more than 20 years ago, most of us were golfing earnestly, sometimes twice a day. But over the years, the spirit of competition and even the enthusiasm for the game itself has waned, along with any hopes any of us ever had of becoming truly good golfers.

What’s left is what we had to begin with. An easy sort of friendship that began for some of us in high school and has continued, against all odds, throughout the years. At times, when I consider what different careers we’ve had, and how dispersed we are geographically, it seems miraculous that we are still connected.

But perhaps that’s the point, the link that ties us still together. Friendship, like marriage, endures only if it’s flexible and forgiving. If we want too much from it, we will likely be disappointed. But if we want too little from it, so little that we don’t at least give it the attention it needs, it will disappear.

What I expect from my friends in terms of companionship is what I expect from them in terms of their golf games. They will play with the same energy, enthusiasm, and good will as they have always played – just as I will… and that will be enough.