Lunch With Mark

Went to lunch with Mark in Woodinville today.   I don’t have many guy friends that I get together with on a regular basis.  We do lunch 3-5 times a year and have done so for a decade. 

Our lives have gone in different directions.  He is happily married with 5 children and an extremely successful career.  I have never been married, had children and not much of a work history.  We do have the commonality of being sober alcoholics in recovery.  Mark has 25 years and I have 7 months.  I am happy for him for his successes.  He has worked hard all his life to achieve what he has.

We mostly talk about life and being happy.  He has had some problems with depression.  I am making great progress in dealing with my chronic depression.   He will talk about politics for a bit.  Our viewpoints are skewed by our financial perspectives.  He is somewhere near close to being a 1%.  I live on a pension.  They are interesting conversations and I really appreciate his friendship.

I am grateful for friends like Mark with different perspectives and life experiences they will share with me.  As a kid, I daydreamed about having a life a lot like his is now with a wife, children of my own and a nice career.  It is nice to see someone living the dream in a healthy sort of way.