Honoring A Friend

I had to say a sort-of-goodbye to a good friend yesterday.  I think I've always appreciated my true friends so deeply it hurts me.  Yet that pain is the most blessed feeling and is not to be purged or given up.  It is to be hoarded selfishly and ardently.  As I've gotten older I've found it easier to express those feelings so it wasn't difficult to say it, but once I'd said out loud what I needed to say I was startled to find my hands shaking despite the clarity in my head.  This friendship won't end but it will be more distant and I will deeply miss those brief times we found to grab a cup of coffee.