Adam Blatner

I used to sing the above as a simple song, a round, in fact. A camp song:
   Make new friends, but keep the old:
   One is silver and the other gold.
Is it true anymore? I wondered recently. Or does it depend on reciprocity. When I learned this little tune, I had no idea how much I’d move, evolve, start new relationships, grow older, experience more complexity. Can I "keep the old" any more? There are so many people, hundreds! Were they actually friends, or friendly acquaintances? How to draw the boundary?

Perhaps a better question was how much do they want to keep in touch with me? That was sobering. People’s lives fill up. So I sent out an email to people on the edge with deep respect. I thought, “If I hear from some of you, well, then. If not, I’ll erase them from my mailing list because, as Fritz Perls says, "nothing to be done."