Among Old Friends Part Three: Innermost Circle

A lawyer-friend of mine once told me about a significant difference between a corporate president and a state president. But before that, he told me about their similarity: both presidents somehow report to a board – the company directors in the former’s case; the congress and the senate in the latter’s (like in the State Of the Nation Address). For a corporate president, the board of directors’ decisions, even those on simple majority, often shape the fate of the company – even his own – and he can’t do anything about it. The state president, on the other hand, has a veto power that can only be overturned by a two-thirds vote. So in the case of the Philippines, the president’s influence is about equal to that of nine senators or 167 congressmen. Wow.

That was just one of our many discussions when we were regularly traveling to Gensan some years ago. There were times when we’d talk about adultery and concubinage and the parliamentary-federal form of government. We even used to fantasize about me being a state governor and he being an assemblyman and later on becoming the prime minister, and how we would act and interact. He was still a law student then, and the entire two hours of driving from Davao would be spent discussing non-stop the law and a little politics, but mostly political structures. I learned quite a lot, and it surely kept me awake and alert during the long drive.

In my previous piece, Among Old Friends, I mentioned how I missed the company of those within my innermost circle of friends, my old pals. Well, this person happens to be within my innermost circle.

Among Old Friends Part Two: VSOP

Our friendship is like grapes: sun ripened, hand picked, aged, blended, and distilled. You truly are VSOP – Very Special Old Pal.

Among Old Friends

Lately I’ve noticed that I’m starting to spend less and less time with my friends. It’s not that I don’t miss them; it’s just that we do not seem to have matching free times anymore. Ah, time. In my past article Money, Time, and Energy, I mentioned that among people in the second stage in life (when you have the money and energy but not the time), “…time is the most precious commodity because it is the scarcest. Oftentimes we are much more willing to part with our money than to give of our time.”

But what I find rather disconcerting is that back when I was more than a decade younger, we were already busy with our jobs but still managed to get together about twice a week; now, we’d be lucky if we can share a drink once in two months. And we are just as busy with our jobs and businesses now. Well, we can consider the fact that most of my friends already have their own families, but I think for my part I no longer have that youthful energy I had in my twenties when I could go out at night, come home in the wee hours of the morning, and then work tirelessly and effectively the following day even without power naps. Then go out at night again, repeating the pattern for up to three consecutive nights at a time. Now…well let’s just say that now I have to schedule my night outs during weekends and holidays.

I miss my friends. I miss their individual virtues as well as their quirks. I miss the people who knew me when I was young. Most of all, I miss the warm company, that cozy feeling when one is among old friends.

I remember a line from a song about sunscreen:

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young.