Five minutes with Bob · Posted by Bob · October 28, 2026

If you have friends, keep them...

Think about the last time you laughed with a school friend. Not a polite laugh over a social media post. I mean the kind of laughter that made your stomach hurt, when one silly memory was enough to bring back an entire afternoon. And you probably never imagined that, one day, finding time to talk to that person would become so difficult. In school, your best friend was simply there. You met between classes, shared your lunch, exchanged secrets, and sometimes spent an entire afternoon together without having anything particularly important to discuss. Friendship was woven into the day. Then life began to change. Your first job. A promotion. A transfer to another city. Longer working hours. New colleagues and new responsibilities. Your old friends still matter, of course. But conversations that once lasted an hour become a quick exchange of messages. “Let's catch up this weekend.” “Definitely!” but it did not materialize. Then came marriage, it brings another person into the center of your everyday life. There are plans to make, families to visit, holidays to organize, and a thousand little decisions that come with building a life together. Your spouse becomes the person with whom you share the day's small discoveries. The funny incident at work. The unexpected bill. The neighbors' latest story. And somewhere along the way, the friend who once heard all these stories begins hearing fewer of them. And along came the children, Remember those spontaneous phone calls? They become harder to make when a baby needs feeding, a toddler needs collecting, or a school project has to be completed before morning. The friend who once knew every detail of your life might now discover your news through a photograph posted weeks later. You still think of each other. You simply lost touch. This is when I had an interesting thought. Careers, marriages, and children are not distractions from life. They are life. They deserve our time, attention, and commitment. But friendships belong to life, too. There is something irreplaceable about being known by someone who has witnessed several versions of you. But once you have settled down, perhaps, you will have the chance to enjoy their company. It will make it, perhaps, easier if we make a small continuous effort to stay in touch. Once you have the room again for long lunches, unhurried conversations, weekend trips, and the simple pleasure of spending an afternoon with someone who knew you decades ago. So perhaps, if we stay a little connected, even if it simply means a birthday e-card, a message prompted by an old memory, a quick note asking how someone's family is doing, or an e-card that says, “I was thinking about you.” It will be that much easier to start from where both of you had to step off for a bit. Until tomorrow, Bob