A Toast to You:

I had a roommate in college who had a toast she would make every time we had cocktails.  She would raise her glass, take a breath and say, “To new friends, old friends and absent friends.”  And then, CLINK.  

Among the many toasts that circulate the clinking of glass, this seems neither too trite nor too profound, though has tinges of both.  The ritual of toasting begins the, sometimes, mindless act of drinking with a moment of mindfulness.  We say our words of toast, take in the words with whatever meaning they hold, touch our glasses, take a sip ~ or swig, whatever the mood ~ and resume what we were doing before the toast was made or move on to the next moment.  

My glass is raised

My newest friends are the readers of this post I haven’t met but am glad to know, while my new friends are the amazing individuals I’ve met in the last seven and half years since I moved from Manhattan.  

My old friends are treasures from high school and college and that undefined time in my 20’s and early 30’s when life was so rich with varied experiences there is no central point of reference.  Some of my oldest friends (and I can call them that since we’ve connected on facebook) are those whose memories are longer and, in most cases, a bit vaguer.

Rather than solely  thinking of people who are absent from my life, I remember that I am also absent from the lives of old friends and acquaintences.  In fact, my former roommate whose words inspired this post, is an absent friend to me as I am to her.

I will end this post and this toast as it began:

To Old Friends, New Friends & Absent Friends

And add:

Future Friends and Friendly Strangers

Happy Holidays and Every Other Ordinary Day!