It’s the time of year when thoughts turn to big plans and dreams, big hairy audacious goals, and closing doors. It can’t be 2025 already – that’s the year I am scheduled to turn 72, and I’m too young to be that old.
In 2024 I continued to process my grief, a process that took up as much time as anything during the year. When you’ve shared a home with someone for 26 years, her absence is palpable and omnipresent. But I was welcomed into a church family, along with my guitar of all things. I’ve always loved to make music but kept that light tightly covered by a bushel basket for the most part, until now.
During the year I met old friends and new for breakfast and lunch, including — can it be? — men friends. I’ve gravitated toward women through the years as both friends and companions, and I’ve rarely had close male friends, but I’m realizing that I’ve been shutting my half of the species out of the equation.
For a guy who bares his soul online every morning, I have had very few friends who “really” know me, but the circle of people who are closer to friend than acquaintance has thankfully grown this year, due mainly to that church family I mentioned.
The new friends include a couple of women who served as the first dating companions I’ve had since my steady date became a beautiful angel. One of these women has become a very good friend, and the other I expect to spend New Year’s Eve with and accompany into the new year, Lord willing. She will never replace Red in my heart, as I will never replace a certain gentleman in hers, but the thing about hearts is that there’s plenty of room to grow and make new spaces.
