From a Distance.


It’s looking likely my closest friend will be moving out of the area very shortly and it’s hard to know how to feel about it.

There’s a lot of talk in mental health about having a support network, and it’s far to say that this person is very much a part of mine. I’ve known him for over twenty years and we meet just about every week for a drink and a chat about the good and bad things happening in our lives. We’ve been each other’s sounding board for so long I’ve maybe taken for granted that this will always be the case - and, while there’s no suggestion this will change, the increase in distance between us will affect the frequency we meet at the least.

If you dig deeper, my first sentence isn’t true; I’m pleased and relieved about the good things that are happening in his life, and that these things are leading him to leave his current, toxic work arrangement to a (hopefully) better job where he is respected for his ability instead of being given no positive encouragement at all. It's great to see him excited by the changes and genuinely looking forward to the future; he deserves it. I also know we’ll stay in active contact; it just hit me this morning how I’ll miss his close proximity and the ease with which we're able to meet. He’s the only friend I see regularly and the only person outside of my wife who’s company I never feel awkward in; our sense of humour is so completely aligned our collective subconscious will grapple for the same joke in every situation. What’s most impressive of all is we still find new material to discuss and still make each other laugh. Yesterday's meeting was a case in point, when our conversation was so funny that at one stage I was literally in tears. You could say those tears were symbolic, to which I’d say, “Sym-bollock, more like”.

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