The Dwindling Foursome
There were four of us Two couples..
The friendship extended over four decades and not much of life’s experiences were left untouched.
We saw our children struggle to ‘find’ themselves as all do. We celebrated their graduation from High School, then college.
We celebrated their weddings, shared sorrow at some of their divorces; we welcomed with awe and love their children supported each other whenever one was sick, or needed healing of some sort.
There was seldom a family celebration of some kind where both families were not melded into one.
We each moved along in our respective careers, and encouraged one another when needed, and celebrated with each other when things went well.
The four of us traveled several thousands of miles together; we visited the world famous shrine at Lourdes, we walked the streets of Paris, Rome, visited the Black Madonna in Sicily, walked the cobble stoned streets of small villages, and towns.
Then one of our four passed; then to the shock of the remaining three, a second one of our beautiful foursome passed; then a third was afflicted with a grave illness Then there was one!
During these four decades, we had seen wars fought in other lands, we had seen governments rise and fall, we experienced confusion in our governing ‘Elites’ and found them to be anything but ‘Elite’
We felt our pride and faith lessen in some of the pillars of our society and government when they have made some disastrous decisions; we saw what we considered unjust actions taken by what we formerly thought to be 100% fair and just.
We saw wonderful feats of goodness done by some, and reckless poorly conceived actions by others.
We witnessed science making pronouncements that contradicted previous beliefs, and then those supplanted by ‘new’ discoveries.
The four of us watched the swirling events unfold and found that our world was in a state of flux and bewilderment.
We began to realize that the only unchangeable aspect of our lives was the love and support we gave willingly and in great quantities to each other.
That never changed.
Our description of the four of us can be summarized by this 33 word statement:
We lived well.
We created a ton of wonderful memories
We enjoyed a boatload of experiences
We had endless laughter
We loved and cared for each other
We always had each other
So as you go through life and witness change and turmoil everywhere you look remember that one of your greatest treasures
Is each other!