THE THREE AMIGOS

I believe that people come in and out of your life for a reason. I have written before that some people bow out gracefully, while others leave broken pieces. Then, there are the true-blue friends; and I just spent a week in Mexico with two of mine.

We all met in the 1980’s while working on Wall Street. Two of us were single at the time, one recently married. We bonded over after-work drinks, annual trips to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, late night dancing, and grabbing quick lunches. We lamented over boyfriends, or lack thereof, and two of us went back to college part-time, while working full-time. There have been four husbands amongst the three of us. One divorce and one death, a victim of September 11^th. One of us is now a grandmother.

Currently, we live in three different cities, and the three of us can go months without speaking to each other, but we all know that we would be there for each other at a drop of hat. We have shared some of our inner most thoughts and no matter what, we have each other’s backs.

This trip to Mexico was to celebrate milestone birthdays. We planned it a year in advance. It was a total relax and chill sort of vacation and I must admit, I had some concerns that I might get bored, or we might get in each other’s way. What occurred was three close friends, each doing what they felt comfortable and wanted to do, while enjoying each other’s company.

For instance, I am not a breakfast person and prefer to sleep in. So, everyday my two friends got up around 7:30am and went to eat, while I snored away. The resort had daily poker games, bingo, and black jack, in which I fully participated. One friend would sometimes join me, while the other was perfectly content lying by the pool. We all spent a lot of time reading and sharing books. We took an excursion into the City and even rode camels. We had massages, met up for dinners, and two of us embarrassingly sung karaoke, with the third cheering us on. Mostly, we were able to have deep discussions without any outside interference.

The truth is we didn’t all have the same view point on everything, but we discussed our feelings in an open and honest way. No one was going to be canceled for a particular opinion. And, I guess we are all friends because we agreed more than we disagreed and, importantly, have the same value system.

As I get older, I have found my friend circle getting smaller. I don’t just want to do small talk anymore, rather opting for deep friendships that can go the distance during good times and bad. The three of us have been through plenty of both.

I have known these ladies for close to 38 years, which kinda [sic] freaks me out. As our kids go to college, start their careers, get married, and have children of their own, I still picture us on the cusp of doing those things ourselves -- like it was yesterday. But it wasn’t yesterday, and our experiences definitely coincide with the number of years we have lived. It is truly wonderful to have people in your life who don’t judge your decisions, are there to pick up the pieces when necessary, celebrate the wins, and offer an opinion from a place that has your best interest at heart.

I don’t know what greater power brought us together. It does seem enigmatic that we would all meet up at the start of our adult lives and continue well into retirement. We have lived a lot of life together. There has been laughing, crying, eye-rolling, and most importantly friendship in the truest sense of the word.

For our next milestone birthdays, in five years, we promised each other that we will take another vacation in Mexico. I can only say G-d willing, may the three amigos once again come together to celebrate.