You Can’t Make Old Friends

In 2013, country music legends Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton released what, in their minds, would be the last of their many hit duets. It was named, appropriately, “You Can’t Make Old Friends.”  Written by Ryan Hanna King, Caitlyn Smith and Don Schlitz (the latter wrote “The Gambler”), the piece spoke movingly of the kind of relationships unique to old friends (for instance, they can finish each other’s stories).

I first heard the song a year into retirement, and it struck a nerve. So I forced many of my old friends to listen, too. It’s the best way I could find to tell them what they meant to me, and what I hoped both to give and receive from them in the future.

Since then, I seem to run into old friends more and more. Happened on vacation when Charlotte and I visited with Ray and Denise in Purgatory, Colorado, and again this week when I had coffee in Amarillo with Eugene.

It’s been one of the best surprises about publishing this book—all the old friends—the ones who share my stories—with whom I’m reconnecting.

Too cool. 🙂

*The first two paragraphs of this blog are excerpts from my book, The Best Is Yet To Be.

**Here’s the official video to Kenny and Dolly’s song: