We pause in our political blogging for some personal reflections.

I got an email from an old Military friend today.

It made my day. 

A big shout out to Eric, and congrats on making Chief!  Hope I get down your way soon.

It reminds me that even though many years pass, sometimes those ties we form never go away.

A few years ago I did an almost frantic amount of research and contact and ‘found’ a lot of friends I had lost.  I got in touch with people I had not seen since High School, and few even earlier that that.  in 2002 I drove around for a week visiting several and reacquainting myself with them and their families.

A few I had been in casual contact with, but not many.  Many I have stayed in pretty consistent contact with since, some have slipped away into memories, but at some time I am sure those doors will open again.

A few will never be far from my thoughts and I am sure I will be burning many cell phone minutes just checking in now and then.

Friendship is so fragile and yet at the same time, it contains some of the strongest ties of all.

I called up Jim, and dropped in on him a few years ago after about a 12 year lapse.  He and I look nothing like we used to, all of our children are mostly grown, and many other fairly significant changes.

And yet, within a few moments, time was erased and we were back in high school almost.

The same happened with Dave, with Luke and many more I wont mention.

We reserve places in our hearts for people, and even if we close those doors for years, a chance reopening often returns us to the last time we saw them, near enough anyway.

None of us are who we expected to be, we have all faced different paths and experiences, and a few of us gained a little extra tonnage, damn the  bad luck.