A fully negotiated term sheet for the friendship, presented with solemn respect on this day in 1997.
We are gathered not to celebrate the beginning, but to honour the careful architecture of an agreement that once bound two parties in mutual regard. The clauses that follow were reached after measured discussion, quiet compromise, and the quiet dignity that friendship demands. This document stands as both record and elegy.
Each term was weighed with the gravity such matters deserve. No clause was entered lightly. The friendship, in its final form, is here preserved in the precise language of its conclusion.
The term shall extend for the natural life of the friendship, subject to mutual written notice of no less than ninety days prior to any proposed conclusion.
Neither party shall enter into new primary friendships without first offering the other party right of first refusal for equivalent time and attention.
Acts of support, counsel, and presence shall be rendered without expectation of immediate return, yet shall be remembered and balanced over the full term.
Conversations held in confidence shall remain sealed indefinitely, surviving any termination of the friendship by no fewer than two generations.
Any change to these terms requires both signatures and a period of quiet reflection no shorter than one lunar cycle.
Upon conclusion, each party shall retain the right to speak of the friendship only in terms of respect and gratitude, never in diminution of the other.
These terms were not born of suspicion but of care. They represent the highest form of regard two people can offer one another: the willingness to put the shape of the bond into words so that nothing might later be misremembered or taken for granted.
The friendship, having been fully negotiated, is now released to memory. May these clauses stand as testament that it was treated with the seriousness it always deserved.