For Old Friends

“Can you imagine us years from today, sharing a park bench quietly?  How terribly strange to be seventy…”

This was the day we were planning to go to Vancouver B.C. to see Simon and Garfunkel in concert at the start of their 2010 tour, the year they both turn sixty nine.  However, their tour has been indefinitely postponed due to Art Garfunkel’s vocal cord problems, so we are staying at home doing Saturday catch up instead, though a bit wistful at what could have been an enjoyable time hearing great songs.

“The sounds of the city sifting through trees
Settle like dust on the shoulders of the old friends”

Even so,  Simon and Garfunkel harmonies run through my head, spurred by a sing along after a wonderful dinner together with two other families last night.  These are friends who are not by any means old, but it is friendship that has lasted over twenty years so we can be very accurately called “old friends.”  Our children grew up together and remain “old friends” in their late teens and twenties.   There is nothing quite as comforting as a friendship that endures time and miles and life transitions.

“Time it was, and what a time it was…
it was…
a time of innocence, a time of confidences”

And so, with the sounds of those songs settling like dust on my shoulders,  it is time to go mow lawn and pull weeds.

For When I’m Weary, Feeling Small

Photo of Canal Rocks in Western Australia by Rob Lewis--- http://rmlewis1.wordpress.com/

Now nearing the end of a ten month stretch of work, I am nearing the bridge to cross over, rather than slogging through and being carried away by troubled waters.  Ordinarily I know better than to wait this long for a respite from daily clinical work, but in times of budget cuts and stressed staffing, vacation feels like a luxury, not a necessity.

It is essential to rest, and rest well. I’m ready.

Very soon our family will have five days together on Vancouver Island, at our favorite place to get away, Point No Point.  Then a day in Seattle for a Mariners’ game, back home to put up our hay crop, and then we’ll have the unique privilege to see Simon and Garfunkel at the start of their “Old Friends on Stage” tour.  Surprisingly, our children are as excited as we are to see these two artists singing together again, though their peers don’t seem to be as familiar with the great songs composed and shared with the world some forty some years ago.

It will ease my mind.  I’m ready.