The Golden Mailbox
Newsletter

Isn't if funny how we keep learning some of the same lessons of life over and over again. There is one lesson that it seems I keep learning over and over. That lesson is the value of friends. I have learned that lesson again this week. Truly, friends are worth more than gold.

A long time ago I started noticing that there were some people in my life that were very different. They were my friends but when I moved away, they continued to be my friend even when I did not contact them for years. I have marveled at that. Most of the other people that I knew at the same time just were forgotten. But for some reason these few friends continued to be a friend that was more like a part of my family.

A good example is when I was in the army starting in 1968. I had a lot of friends. I mean a lot. That was before most of you were even born in the 1970's. I met literally hundreds of people and many of them became "FRIENDS", but there were just a few that remained my life long friends. The others I have completely forgotten about.

I have often asked myself the question of why. Why did these few people become my life long friends? I have not seen most of them for over 30 years, yet if we met on the street tomorrow we would go right on talking where we left off. A few I have contacted now and then, yet we do not correspond every week, not even every year. Why are they still my friends, my best friends? I just called one last week that I have not talked to for over 5 years. We just started right up talking like it was yesterday. He even recognized my voice before I told him who it was. How have we remained such close friends when we never talk?

I think I know the reason. It is because when we were together I knew that they loved me and they knew that I loved them. They knew that I would do anything that I could do for them if it was right, and I knew they would do the same for me. But it was more than that. We actually did do things for each other. We showed our friendship by being and doing and feeling feelings while we were together. The best example of that is the fact that we often corrected each other. If I had bad breath (or any other bad habits) they told me. Did you know that only your best friends will tell you that. Having that kind of relationship of helping each other to be the best you can be creates a life long bond.

So I ask you, have you ever wondered why so many of your olden time friends have not stayed friends in your mind in the same way as others have? Most of the friends I have had in "yester" year turned out to just be acquaintances in passing. I could not even tell you their names now. Most I do not even remember. They are not the same as these life long friends. With my life long friends, when we lost contact they stayed right there in my mind and heart like they were never gone. I think about them all the time. The others, because we lost contact I forgot them.

I do not contact my life long friends very often, but I do wonder where they are or that they are doing once in a while. I often wonder if they feel the message that I am thinking about them. Some times I have the impression they are in trouble and I pray for them, but I never hear from them. I many times have had that impression from them. There is a bond there, a trust, a friendship that is more than a friendship. It is a brother or sister hood. It is knowing that if they needed something, even to this day, if they called me, and if I could do it for them, they know I would. They are my life long friends.

A poem that I learned years ago takes on new meaning every time I think of these life long friends.

Wind is to fire as absence is to love It puts out the small and kindles the great.

Most of what I have and who I am came because of my friends. They have had a profound effect for good in my life. They have inspired me to do my best when I was too discouraged to go on. They have helped me find jobs when I was out of work. They have fixed things for me that I could not fix myself. But most of all they have corrected me when I was wrong. Truly my friends are worth more to me than Gold.

Encompassed within all that, I feel true joy to know that of all my friends, after 33 years of marriage with out ever having had an argument, my wife is my best friend of all.

Your millionaire making friend

Cordell Vail, W.B.