A Parting of Ways

It’s too bad friendships don’t come with the lifetime warranty of a Midus muffler or at least the 50,000 miles of a Michelin tire. It would be great if there were some test you could subject them to up front that would show their strength and their existing flaws, much as we do with gemstones. But instead we must simply rely on the commitment of two people to make a relationship work.

Most friendships come about as two people find themselves on a similar path and realize they are going in the same direction. It’s usually a more interesting trip to go in someone else’s company than to walk alone. But then sometimes they have different opinions about how to ford a stream or go over a bump in the road and their paths simply diverge.

I’m struggling this week with a friendship that seems to be unraveling by virtue of a lack of interest in repairing it. The air is running out of this tire with no attempt to patch the hole. I can’t get the other party to even come to the bargaining table.

It’s not as though I have no other friends. I treasure friendships that are almost as old as I am that at this time appear to have a lifetime warranty, but at the same time I will sorely miss this particular one that has been so important to me over the past few years. I have learned so much from this person.

As I see us going down separate paths with not so much as even a goodbye, I will try to remember the fun we had together and not the seemingly insignificant thing that was the catalyst for the end of our friendship.