My best friend during the 70s was my cousin Carlos ‘el Enano’ Peral. We had a great many times together. Our families were very close and we spent much time hanging out. It’s a shame that I’ve not kept up with him, or he with me. We men are lousy at maintaining relationships, and it’s to our loss. One day I’ll get off my ass and call him, but what do I say, after 25 years of absence, ‘Hi Carlos, it’s Luis. How are you’? Well, maybe that’s all it takes, never mind the awkwardness and the fear of rejection. I don’t make new friends easily, and none have the pull and investment in me as these old, best friends. Face it, they’re probably the only ‘best’ friends I’ll have, and they’re many, but all neglected. Shame on me.

“If a man could ascend to heaven and get a clear view of the natural
order of the universe, and the beauty of the heavenly bodies, that wonderful spectacle would give him small pleasure, though nothing could be conceived more delightful if he had but had some
one to whom to tell what he had seen.” So true it is that nature abhors isolation, and ever leans upon some-thing as a stay and support; and this is found in its most pleasing form in our closest
friend.

But though Nature also declares by so many indications what her wish and object and desire is, we yet in a manner turn a deaf ear and will not hear her warnings.
Treatises on Friendship and Old Age
by Marcus Tullius Cicero