“Invisible threads are the strongest ties” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

There are certain people that come into your life that you have a definite connection with. It's a deep, unexplainable connection. It almost transcends reality. I have just such a connection with a very dear friend of mine. He is probably my oldest friend as we met each other in 1975. A traumatic event that we went through together in May of that same year turned acquaintances into life long friends. We have stayed in touch throughout all of these years, sometimes on a more regular basis than others, but through it all, this connection has remained. We live a good distance from each other. We live separate lives, but I know he will always be there if I need him, and he knows that about me too. All through my life, he has been able to sense when I need to hear from him. At one of the lowest points in my life when I was bearing a huge burden in secret for fear of letting the world know what I was going through, I heard from my friend. When he called, I had probably not heard from him in years, but the sound of his voice immediately lifted my spirits. I didn't share my secret burden, but just talking to him was just what I needed.
Recently my friend found out he had a very aggressive form of cancer. Surgery was set to try and fix the problem, remove the organ that was diseased. The fear? The cancer may have spread, and therefore would not be able to be removed. Pretty scary! Let's face it. None of us ever wants to hear the "C" word. If anyone tells you it doesn't strike a chord of panic when heard in a diagnosis, I would venture to say they would be lying. I was concerned. I prayed for him. I put him on my Sunday school prayer list, but throughout the entire period of the time I found out until now, I felt this sense of calm. That little voice inside saying to me, "Everything is going to be okay." My daughter even commented to me how calm I was about the whole thing. Now, I have to say, I am not a panicky person. I keep my head in most crisis situations. It is not until everything is all over that I usually fall apart and always in private. I never shared this with my friend because I didn't want to seem like I was not taking this very difficult situation seriously, I was. My connection to him just made me feel a peace about the whole ordeal. Today I found out that he's, in his words, "OK" The surgery was successful, and the cancer had stayed contained. I am thrilled, overjoyed, and true to form, I fell apart, in private, after it was all over, not tears of sadness but extreme joy that my friend and his family have been freed, and my "connection" remains.