"Life's Most Important Things" - Time Out #155

Life is precious as we all know each day moving forward.

Important things to one individual, however, might not be important to someone else.

There certainly isn't a correct or right answer to everyone's "important list" as the proverbial time clock ticks away.

There are some things I am still figuring out about the complexities of life.

However, a few important items for me are set in stone, very unlikely to change. In fact, these traits of mine have been a part of my personality as long as I am able to go back in my mind's eye to my earliest youth. Remember, dear readers of Our Town and far beyond, your down-deep personality is fully developed by 6-years-old. Yes, you can work on yourself to alter it, but that takes constant effort and thought.

So, what has been with me for decades of time?

Human friendships.

Simply put, my friends are my friends. I am as loyal as the day is long, as my dear father, Col. C.H. Breedlove, said to me while I grew up under his watchful eye. Remember, my mother, Grace, passed away before I turned 4, so "The Colonel" served as both my parents for my formative years. Fortunately, we moved to Our Town from the huge metropolitan Washington, D.C. area in the summer of 1953. I benefited immensely from those simpler/gentler times when everyone knew everyone else here in the middle of America, and kindness overflowed on practically every street corner in this very special place on Planet Earth. Those earlier times helped lay the solid foundation for my friendships with many people I call my friends 66-plus years later.

My father was a terrific role model in that friendship-building area, as many times, I have heard him referred to as the "Will Rogers" of his time. His uncanny ability to enter a room where he knew no one, and within an hour, not just know the other folk's names, but, also, know something about each one of them was incredible. As a young boy with him, I would continually witness all this activity, and, of course, smiled, because this was MY father!

Like him, I have felt at ease over the decades of time when talking with people from all walks of life, be they rich, poor, famous or not, and if I end up enjoying them, they become my friend.

I have tried to let them know that, too, with attention to what is important in their lives, showing I truly care about them.

That fact of caring could not be any more evident than our Friday afternoon lunch group. That group of people, men and women, are truly wonderful, and I look forward to swapping stories with them each and every week I am able to be in town. Even when other things attempt to crowd into that specific weekly time space, I try my best to work that fellowship time into happening, too, with our gang. Because we all come from varied lifelong employment situations, for me, it just makes our conversations so rich in content. Any topic is usually fair game, too, and I can honestly tell you, I can't remember when anyone's anger got in the way of a lively discussion. Wide differences of opinions, YES! Tempers and anger expressed, NO! Hopefully, I will be able to tell their individual stories to you in future installments. Remember, everyone has a story to tell.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention another vital inner-circle group of friends, and that group would be my fellow football officials for the last 51 years, and still counting. Since we have gone to "Friday Night Lights war' on the high school football field what seems like a zillion times together, these guys are truly like my blood brothers. Their future life stories to come, too!

The absolute best medicine for anything is friendship. Talking to an old friend whether briefly, or for an hour or more, is one of life's greatest pleasures. I am totally convinced of it!