Music and friends

I went to a concert last night with an old friend who I've known since the late 70's.  She and I are both music lovers and we agreed that the concert - - a variety of songs sung by two young people who have studied music and are now teaching - - was one of the best we'd ever been to.  Afterwards, we shared a meal at a local place - - an old favorite of both of us.  What a treat to have known my friend for so long.  She and I laugh a lot.  Our visits, although in frequent, are usually kept on a very light note, even when we're talking about something serious, if that makes sense.  She's much older than I and I wonder if her advanced age helps her to keep most everything in a humorous perspective.  She is, in her words, a 'confirmed agnostic' and I am a confirmed (literally in the Episcopalian sense) Christian.  I told her that "confirmed" and "agnostic" probably are mutually exclusive terms - - she laughed.  I heard recently that everyone has a 'god' even if they say they don't believe in God, as in what they worship - - could be material things, could be the reverance of nature, etc.  I wonder what my friend would describe as her 'god' or if she would say she doesn't hold anything in that way.  I'll have to ask her next time I see her.  She chides me because I don't call her often enough - - not in a way that makes me feel guilty, but in a way that conveys her interest in cultivating our friendship.  I'm the same age as her daughter and yet she doesn't treat me in a maternal way.  I have always considered her a mentor, professionally for our time together serving on a volunteer board, and personally for her fine example of a long and wonderful marriage to her now deceased husband.  One time I called her years ago to talk about our volunteer board work and asked her if I was calling at a good time - - she replied that she and her husband were having wild sex on the kitchen floor.  I laughed because I figured she was joking and yet I also thought how very possible that might be, given how close she and her husband were.  Years ago, when I was a young working mother, I went to my friend in her role as therapist for some talk therapy.  It was a huge help.  Now that she's much older and somewhat hard of hearing she's given up professional therapist work, and yet when I asked her if I could ever come to talk with her, with her therapist hat on, like in the dead of winter when my SAD is at its worst, she said absolutely yes, please come and talk, and don't worry that its any imposition at all.  I hope I'll remember that when my SAD has colored my thinking and acting so that I am so stuck in a rut of gloom.  It's June now and all that seems so distant and unlikely, now that I am getting out in the sun and the days of daylight are longer.  As the years go by, and I get more and more used to myself, I hope I'll work out some plans, like talking to my friend, to help myself.  Meanwhile, I'm grateful for friends and especially for this good friend with whom I spent a most delightful evening.