Old Friends Meet

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart but it takes such a long time to grow an 'old friend.'
Today I re- discovered a friendship going back some forty years.I don't remember who met who first. I just remember all six of us being friends and the many hours we spent together as three newly married couples, having moved to a new area, to take up our first jobs .We were so young then and all of our lives stretched before us.Our husbands worked together, we shared each others problems,we socialised together,we had our children at the same time, we became godparents to each others children,our children grew up and played together.Life was full and wonderful.
Then twenty years ago, you moved abroad to pursue a career.The usual letters and Xmas cards were exchanged but that close connection was somewhat lost.
Until now that is!You and your husband, now retired, have returned to your roots and through some strange twist, we have managed to connect again.Your emergence felt so natural.
This may just be an ordinary photo to my fellow Blippers , pretty meaningless, average quality , no quirky effects ,but to me, it means the signing of our continued friendship after almost twenty years apart.
We shared old memories,caught up on each others lives, laughed a LOT,had lunch together, talked some more, gasped at how the time had flown, and realised we had picked up from where we left off all those years ago.Nothing had changed, other than the fact we were a little older.After you left, I felt as if I had knocked the clock back twenty years.
I found this poem which sums up my day.It reads as follows:
MAKE NEW FRIENDS, BUT KEEP THE OLD;
THOSE ARE SILVER, THESE ARE GOLD.
NEW-MADE FRIENDSHIPS, LIKE NEW WINE,
AGE WILL MELLOW AND REFINE.
FRIENDSHIPS THAT HAVE STOOD THE TEST
OF TIME AND CHANGE ARE SURELY BEST;
BROW MAY WRINKLE, HAIR GROW GREY,
FRIENDSHIP NEVER KNOWS DECAY.
FOR 'MID OLD FRIENDS TRIED AND TRUE,
ONCE MORE WE OUR YOUTH RENEW.
BUT OLD FRIENDS, ALAS MAY DIE,
NEW FRIENDS MUST THEIR PLACE SUPPLY.
CHERISH FRIENDSHIP IN YOUR BREAST
NEW IS GOOD, BUT OLD IS BEST;
MAKE NEW FRIENDS, BUT KEEP THE OLD;
THOSE ARE SILVER, THESE ARE GOLD.

This short friendship poem was written by Joseph Parry, (1841-1903).