A few days ago, I met my colleague. It had been a year and a half since we had last met. We enjoyed the reunion very much. I have some close colleagues. He is the easiest of them to talk to, though he is fifteen years younger than me. He talked about what was happening to his company and himself. The company seemed to be in tough conditions due to rising purchasing costs. As far as I heard, it seemed far from a pay rise. He, himself, has been assigned more duties since this year. He never seemed free from worries as he had to take care of his subordinates. On the other hand, his private life seemed to be going well. He often went out fishing with his child to refresh himself.
We talked a lot about other topics and ended up staying in a Japanese-style pub for about four hours. We knew each other too well to stop talking. Sometimes we laughed out loud, and sometimes we were angry with each other.
It was a very enjoyable day. I really need such days at least twice a year. I am grateful that he arranged the reunion.

　先日、1年半ぶりに会社の同僚と会いました。また、外でお酒を飲むのみ久しぶりでした。同僚といっても、僕とは15歳くらい離れているのですが、一番、気楽に話ができる相手です。最近の会社や彼自身の状況についていろいろ話してくれました。会社は、仕入れコストが大幅にアップして、非常に厳しい状況にあるようです。聞いている限りでは、世間で騒がれている賃上げは望めそうにありません。また、彼も今年から仕事の範囲が増えたそうです。彼は部下を指導監督する立場なので、気苦労が絶えないようです。一方で、プライベートは順調のようです。休みの日は等は、お子さんと釣りに出かけて、仕事の疲れを癒やしているようです。
話が募り、結局、1件の店で4時間くらい話をしていました。気心が知れていると、話が尽きません。大声で笑う話もあれば、一緒に怒りたくなるような話もありました。こんな楽しい場が年に数回ほしいとつくづく思う一日でした。同僚に感謝です。