My best friend

After a long silence I got mail at Christmas time from one of my oldest and yes I would classify as my best friend from way back in the days, all the way back to grade 5. Life happens and circumstances change our lives, but you can measure a friendship on how much time goes by and yet when you hear from each other again or meet up, it's like no time has passed at all. Some people still have issues with the old cliche that boys and girls can't only be friends, well I beg to differ and anybody who has an issue with that, that is their issue.We first met in our first year of High school ( grade 5 in Germany), we weren't in the same class nor did we have the same circle of friends, but somehow we found each other and started a friendship, well maybe more acquaintances at that point, as the years progressed and we went though our years at High school, we finally ended up in the same classes and that's when it all began, yes he was a boy and I was a girl, we were never romantically involved, but we have been inseparably ever since grade 10. We went out together, to concerts, to functions, ride on his motorcycle, went sightseeing or just hung out, we had a closeness that not many people have or ever experience, we would spent nights just talking and debating topics. He went through different girlfriends, and I was always by his side afterwards when things didn't work out. After High school our ways separated, he started an apprenticeship close to home and I went out of town to do my thing, all along keeping in contact mostly through letters, then came my decision to move to Canada, the night before my departure I had a going away party with all my closest friends, of course he was there too, well actually he stayed way until the morning hours and we just talked and talked and talked. Upon my arrival in Canada we still kept in contact through letters, he had joined the army and we were close to meeting up in Toronto once as he was on a training mission there, and his ship was anchored in Toronto harbour, I actually have photo of his ship, as it was on the day we were all in Toronto on the CN tower with my parents during their first trip here. He got married to one of my dad's students, I had my kids and our lives just moved on. Every trip we went to Germany he would come and visit us at my parents place, we visited at their house and met with his wife and the kids that came along during every visit. I know his wife wasn't very happy about our friendship, well in the beginning she seemed fine, but as the years went on,  she seemed to be more upset at the mere mentioning of my name, so I decided to cool it with the letters and visits for a while, but never stopped thinking about him, how he and his family were and how his life was going. I kept my mail limit to a Christmas card each year for years and then this year I got this long letter from him, it was so nice, to just catch up with all the happenings over the years. It is amazing to know that even so we are far in distance and have been far apart over the last few years we are still yet so close at heart. That's what a true friend is all about.