Friends With Shelf Lives When we're young, we think the friends we have are forever. Of course, as we age, we learn this is rarely the case. Last night Wifey and I dropped off the ancient Suegra at the condo where we store her. As we were leaving, we ran into the son of one of my old friends -- he lives in the unit, across from mine, that his Dad bought when he convinced me to buy one also in 2006. The young man has been there for two years, and we were happy to see he had transcended a very difficult youth, and was doing well. I messaged his Mom on FaceBook, to tell her how great it was to see her boy, and how well he was doing. The last time I spoke to her about him was at a Starbucks over 5 years ago, and she broke down in fear that he'd end up in jail or dead. So it was a happy message exchange, and she asked why I hadn't kept in touch with the young man through his Dad -- my old college friend. No, I told her, the Dad had dropped me as a friend after I refused a request for a loan. She was shocked -- we had been so close. I guess not, I wrote to her, if a single financial transaction could end a 30 something year friendship. Sometimes friendships have shelf lives -- like milk in the refrigerator. Wifey and I were going through some pictures from our wedding -- it'll be 30 years since we were married. I had LOTS of groomsmen -- 7 of them. They were all folks I would have sworn would be part of my life forever. In fact, only four have any relevant meaning to me now -Drs. Barry and Eric, and my law school buds Mike and Jeff. Two of the other fellows are also docs -- one I met with for the first time in 20 years last Fall, another I speak to or see only very rarely, and the final person and I have had ZERO contact for nearly half a decade now and won't speak again. So things change. Wifey had 4 in her court, and has virtually nothing to do with two of them. The others are still friends, but Wifey sees them only every few months of so -- life just drifted them apart. My Mom had many, many friends and close acquaintances -- she essentially outlived all of them, and over the last year of her life was only visited by her children and some of her grandchildren. My ancient suegra also outlived all of the "card players" -- fellow Holocaust Survivors who socialized in Miami, and later at Century Village in Pembroke Pines. My suegra has one best friend still alive in Israel, but in the final stages of Alzheimer's Disease, and each trip to the mailbox my mother in law cringes -- waiting to hear news of her friend's death from her daughter. As usual -- Springsteen said it best: "In the end what you don't surrender, well this world just strips away." So I'm a lucky guy -- I still have very close friends, from all stages of my life. But, wisdom teaches me, some just fade away.