Best friends and goodies

My closest, dearest friend in the world has been here for a visit. Jim and I have been friends for almost 30 years now… wow! We live thousands of miles apart (he lives in Seattle), yet time and distance have not been an obstacle to share and support each other through life’s joys and struggles. We manage to see each other every couple of years, write only occasionally, and talk on the phone once, maybe twice a year. It wouldn’t seem like much to go on, yet Jim is the friend I most admire and from whom I have learned the most what it means to be a friend. It sometimes seems incredible that so many years have gone by since we met and became friends, but I also find that comforting. You know… that certainty that this is indeed a lasting friendship.

I don’t know why we have only rarely taken photographs together. The last one was taken several years ago, as an afterthought as we were saying goodbye at the airport in Seattle, after a week of visiting there. A stranger was kind enough to snap a completely blurry picture in which you can’t even tell there are two people there!

But this is my favorite photograph… still early in our friendship (1981), when we were young and beautiful! Jim is now traveling down south, but will be back in a few days… I’ll have to remember to take a photo this time and document the changes!

Jim and Angie

And naturally, as the kind and patient friend he is, he has been good natured about packing an extra bag full of things we cannot find in Ecuador… especially books in English. For me, obviously, some sewing goodies were also included. Ah, life is good!