One of the joys of my travels is meeting wonderful people from all over the world, and then communicating with them for many years afterward. They become true friends, although in many cases we may never physically meet again.
This past week re-affirmed how important these folks are to me. First, I saw the news about the earthquake in New Zealand, and then when I heard the epicenter was in Christchurch, I was immediately worried about my friends Arthur and Jeannette who live there. We met on a trip to Spain and France about six years ago, and maneuvered our way quite well through Paris together. Since those two weeks together we have communicated via email.
I wrote Arthur ( he’s the “talker” of the two) thinking I might not hear from them for days due to power outages, so I was pleasantly surprised to get an almost immediate response in spite of the time difference. Fortunately, they were fine, but their house and those of relatives were damaged. Right now, it is difficult to assess the extent, but characteristic of Arthur, he was upbeat and positive.
Fast forward two days, and the news was on Hurricane Earl hitting Canada. (I still get angry about hurricanes named after men—political correctness run amuck!) My good friends Paul and Helen and Dewayne and Ann, who I met on a tour of Great Britain and Ireland, live on Prince Edward Island. Again, I was worried for their safety, but the news came back good in their case as well.
These events made me realize again what a small world this truly is, and friendships over the miles are not diminished because of a little word called distance. I’m thankful they are all okay.