I’m young. They’re old. Yet our friendship means the world to me

In the absence of a ‘built-in’ pack of old school friends, social lives can bloom vertically across the generations. Photograph: Ponomariova_Maria/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Imagine someone living alone, loosely tethered to their community, with family far away. Maybe this person wouldn’t say they are lonely – maybe they know how to muffle it, making cheery conversation in the grocery line – but the feeling is there, a moon tugging the tides of their days.

One day, a neighbor appears at their door. The two are decades apart and have shared pleasantries in passing, but nothing more. This time, the older neighbor holds a steaming bowl of soup. The occupant’s first thought is dread. I am being pitied. Still, the soup is good. Literally and figuratively, a heart is warmed.