During the holiday season I always tend to become reflective and look back in my life and take stock of what has come and gone. For some reason my mind wandered to thoughts of old friends today. Through the years different friends of mine have come and gone. In some cases it was because we had gradually grown apart, gone to different schools, and made different choices. Our paths in the woods of life diverged. With others it was misfortune that ultimately pulled our friendships apart.

Very few friends from the old days are still present in my life. Some of them went their own way and have met with much success. Others have seemingly gone completely astray and only seem like a shadow of the person I once knew. Friends that were once great to me have all but forgotten about me and I to them.

Someone once told me that I would be lucky if at the end of my life I could say that I had one true friend. As I’ve made my way through life’s journey and as I look back at friends of the past I couldn’t find the statement to be more true. People I once trusted turned on me and moved on. Individuals I selflessly helped have ungratefully forgotten my kindness.

As I attempt to look forward into the fog that shrouds the next leg of my journey I remain thankful for the new friends in my life and hope that our friendships will be true in the end. Here at the beginning of another year of a life that I am still most grateful for, despite the awful state of society and humanity, I remain ever hopeful the future will bring better times for all of us.