My Circle of Friends

 About 14 years ago I received a gift from my neighbor; it was a Circle of Friends. It was made out of cement and its circumference was approximately 8 – 10 inches. A Circle of Friends is unique in that all the little figures which are identical are connected by their hands and are facing forward to a candle. When you put a candle in the candle holder and light it the shadow of the figurines dances on the ceiling. I loved it and because it was a gift from my neighbor it was all the more special to me. John thought it would make a good anchor, he is so practical, but I lovingly took it to our cottage on Georgian Bay and found the perfect spot for it on the center of our coffee table. For many years when we would spend time up there I would light the candle and watch the figurines dance on the ceiling and think of my many friends. I have a very large circle of friends and as the years continue my circle of friends has grown almost exponentially!

Five years ago our family made a very big change; we sold our Georgian Bay cottage and we moved to Northern Minnesota as well as leaving many friends from the Owen Sound area where we had lived previously. As we packed up the contents of our cottage I very carefully wrapped my Circle of Friends for the long trip to Minnesota. It survived the trip wonderfully but alas as it was being unpacked it was dropped and the cement figurines became separated from each other, now instead of one circle of friends holding hands I had about 8 separate little stone figurines. It was at that moment I had a picture of what was happening in my life; friends going in all different directions. When would I see my neighbor again who had given me this gift and what about all the new friends I had made? Old friends, new friends all separated from each other. In a moment charged with emotion I quickly gathered them all up and eventually found a new place for them in my new flower garden among the blooming Forget-me-not’s and Lily of the Valley.

This spring 5 years later I was thoroughly weeding the overgrown flower garden, pulling out Forget-me-nots and weeds and I started finding these little figurines, I soon found all of them bravely guarding their own portion of the garden, still separate and each one alone without the candle center… and as I began to remember other days and other times and my many friends I couldn’t help but feel sad and lonely, the separation of friends is so hard and difficult. My only source of comfort was to realize that unlike my broken circle of stone friends, my real circle of human friends is different; we have a Center Candle that will not break off ever and it holds us together throughout time and miles that demand separations and even the transplanting into new gardens.