People - many people, that is - have a tendency to get on with their lives.  I've an old girlfriend whom I haven't seen in sixty years, someone with whom I went to high school, and with whom our relationship extended until that time when we were still young, but dating and close to marriage; events that took place at a much earlier time in the chronology of our lives than now occurs.

We rejoined our relationship remotely, though we have lived in different cities for quite a long time.  By happenstance my sister was befriended by this very old friend of mine, who enquired whether we were related.  When my sister informed me of that coincidence she also gave me the email address of my old friend (though my sister, legally blind, is not computer-literate) and from then on, over the past five years or so we have kept in touch through that medium.

A few days ago my old friend forwarded to me (although I had received on previous occasions similar photographs from her) the latest photos of herself posed alongside her boyfriend, with whom she has been enjoying a deep relationship for the past nine years.  They are preparing, once again, to embark on their usual winter-long trek to Florida.  They live separately, not together, but see one another several times weekly, and attend social events together.

In the photographs they look extremely happy and satisfied with life.  My friend is 74 years of age, and her beau is 88, looking quite as fit and prepared to enjoy life as she does, both obviously prepared for as prolonged a period as possible.