"Picking Up Where We Left Off....."

So when does a good friend become an old friend... After a very long paddle trip, over just one trek, a single Outward Bound course, or after decades of connection... All could likely be true...

There is one close old friend I have in particular who I have shared caving with, who has hiked and rafted rivers with me, parachuted and climbed mountains as well, and as each season comes we meet to talk and dream again, picking up where we left off... And then begin planning our next adventures.

Almost always the preparation and anticipation are as much fun as the adventure activities themselves. He is such a 'glass is half full' kind of friend; one who can look out from a tent into the rain and say 'this could be fun', and really mean it... He relates this back to an epiphany he had when scuba diving overseas years ago, where during the last dive he remembered that with such little time left, it becomes so very important to relax, go with the flow of it all, and focus upon the enjoyment of each moment. He tells this story so well...

There is that sense of humour he has too, which comes out at just those moments when others need it. I truly enjoy even the limited time we have when we catch up a few times a year, then pick up again where the trail of our laughter and memories left off... That seems to be the nature of lives full of family, vocations, and other equally important things. Each adventure season though, there are those days out in the wild places where he reminds me to look back upon the trail just covered, ahead to the horizon, and so enjoy the moments in between...

This friend of mine actually has a mountain , a high place, with the same last name as his... While it may not have been originally named for him, such good friends should indeed have this kind of namesake in their lives... Good friends become close, old cherished friends, as they share even a few, or many years, of such adventure experiences.....

DSD