Aunty Acid by Ged Backland for March 22, 2023

yeah, seems more like it that way

You ain’t seen me because I been avoiding you.

Sad but true…

Then the one that’s left keeps kicking themselves and feeling guilty because they didn’t take the time to call or go see the other friend. Believe me, I know all too well.

Too right.

My best friend is 15 years older than me to the day. We used to celebrate our birthdays together.

It’s like looking in a mirror and seeing the image of yourself grow old. If you can look past the inevitable aging process of an old friend, and realize it parallels your own, an adult friendship can be steady and loyal and enduring and will last for many years, perhaps a lifetime — to wind down sweetly at the end, leaving memories that exist in old photographs and letters that pile like old leaves and eventually blow away in the wind of time.

…. and the catches up.

Some time after my Mum and my aunt died, my cousin Glyn told me and Dad that he’d have to see us more often as he was starting to see us mainly at funerals. He had to miss my Dad’s funeral in 2020 due to the restriction on numbers.

My Dad didn’t die from Covid. He was in hospital with pneumonia and died of a heart attack in his sleep about half an hour after I paid him what turned out to be my last visit.

I had several lifetime friends; unfortunately, they are all dead. It’s hard to make new ones.

This gets harder when one or both of us give up driving.

Aunty is a REGRET waiting to happen.

Beautifully said.

Aunty, it is a shame that you have no clue what friendship really is. You are the kind of person that caused John Wayne to say on more than one occasion, “there goes another person throwing that word friend around.”

It takes being a good friend to find and keep a good friend. I can’t say any of my friends fit into Aunty’s description at all. We get together as often as we can, even if it’s just a walk outside or a lunch, or maybe a long phone call in between visits. What she is describing is how to avoid a friendship.

The underlying message here is that if someone truly cares about you and values your friendship they will make every effort to stay in touch or socialise with you on a regular basis when possible.

This situation is a lot like courting a potential romantic interest, if they don’t respond favourably after a few respectful well thought attempts, it is time to move on.

If a person really likes you and feels the same chemistry/attraction that you feel, they will make the time and effort to contact you and be in hot pursuit.

Maybe people are not keeping in touch or those desired catch ups are not happening because your not really that important to them or their life.

Unless there are other barriers preventing catch ups, It is best to recognize and accept that the interest isn’t there and that they are simply not into you.