The Keen Ghosts Of Absent Friends
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
keen: 6. intense, as feeling or desire: keen ambition; keen jealousy.
Stop.
Take a moment to think of your friends.
When was the last time you told them how much they mattered to you? When was the last time they KNEW how important they were to your life?
Lately I have been keenly feeling the ghosts of absent friends.
Some of them, of course, are gone from this life forever. I am 48 years old. People I love have died. That is part of life.
Some of them are just lost. I simply lost contact with them over the course of time - people move, lives change, events and incidents effect us all for better and for worse. We fall out of contact, first a day, then a week, then a month, and then a year and then...we are lost.
Some of them are simply engaged in other things. Personal things, professional things, hobbies, wars, adventures, trips, time alone, time with others, and time focused in the other spheres of their lives.
I understand all of the above. I have done all of the above. I will do all of the above.
But none of the above relieves those keen ghosts of absent friends. My feeling is I miss them, I want them, I need them. Whatever reason they have for being gone, I wake in the morning with their keen ghosts tangled in my dreams.
I wish I could gather them all together at the Hickory Pit, buy them all breakfast, and we could share our lives over pancakes and eggs and sausage and toast and coffee and orange juice. We could tell our stories and laugh or cry about them as necessary.
So, for all my friends who happen to read this - know that you are appreciated and loved.
If you are an absent friend for whatever reason - you are missed and I look forward to hearing the tales of your journey when the spheres of our lives come together again.
The spirits of those who are truly lost to me probably won't read this journal. But I hope that through the mystery and majesty of the universe they know that they are thought of, loved, and missed.
If you are in a dark place in your life, know that I stopped on the way into work this morning, knelt in prayer, and lit a candle tohelp you find your way to your journeys end, whether it is home or some distant shore.
Love, Rod
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