The years and friends 2023/10/07

My dear old man: birthdays are always a reason for joy, but... what happens when there are many springs and summers and...?

I want to copy something that a friend who just turned 85 sent me, I think you will like it and enjoy it like I do.

We were born in the 40-50-60, we grew up in the 50-60-70, we studied in the 60-70-80, we got married in the 70-80-90, we got married and discovered the world in the 70-80-90, We ventured into the 80s and 90s, stabilized in the 2000s, became wiser in the 2010s, and are going strong through the 2020s. It turns out that we have lived through eight different decades, two different centuries, two different millennia...

We have gone through the telephone with an operator for “long distance” calls to video calls to any part of the world, we have gone from slides to YouTube, from vinyl records to online music, from handwritten letters to email and WhatsApp.

We rode skates, tricycles, invented carts, bicycles, mopeds, gasoline or diesel cars and, now, we ride hybrids or 100% electric. We learned about the first computers, punched cards, floppy disks and now we have gigabytes and megabytes in our hands on our cell phones or iPads.

Yes, we went through a lot, but what a great life we ​​have had!

But, furthermore, dear old man, we have accumulated that treasure called friendship and, regarding it, I copy a writing from the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoayou will like:

“My friends are all like that: half madness, half holiness; I don't choose them for their skin, but for their pupil, which must have a questioning shine and a disturbing tone.

“I choose my friends for their washed face and exposed soul, I don't just want their shoulder or their lap, I also want their greatest joy, because the friend who doesn't know how to laugh with me, doesn't know how to suffer with me.

“My friends are all like that: half jokes, half seriousness; I don't want predictable laughter, nor pious tears, I want serious friends of those who make reality their source of learning, but who fight so that fantasy doesn't disappear.

“I don't want adult or ordinary friends, I want them half childhood and half old age, children so that they don't forget the value of the wind in their faces, and old people so that they are never in a hurry.

“I have friends to know better who I am, because seeing them crazy, joking and serious, children and old people, I will never forget that normality is a sterile illusion. Thanks for the friendship!".

What do you think, dear old man, of these thoughts so that you can share them with your loved ones, with your primary school friends, with your coworkers, with your old age friends?

Enjoy life, every day, every moment, congratulations!