Friends Far and Near

I love my friends. The old ones...

Coach Mester's Word List Buddies 4Eva!

The fun ones...

One of these four does not belong. Can you guess who it is?

The working world professional (and still fun) ones...

If you ever have the chance to go to a silent-music party, DO IT. Just sayin'.

But the truth is, I've been struggling recently with trying to keep in touch with them all. I have so many plates in the air between work and related travel, the blog, volunteer work ... you name it, and I am doing it.

It's not that I am too busy. You know me - I love being busy! Here's the issue. In my spare time, there are a select few people that top my list of ones I want to see. My family. The man. A few select lady friends. And that's even if I am up for any interaction at all. Sometimes I am a-okay sitting in silence by the pool or in front of TiVo for a few hours.

And all my other friends? It's not that they aren't as important to me. It's just that I value friendships most where I can not see or talk to you for a few days or weeks (or worse, months - I try not to do that, I promise!), and then when we do, it's like nothing was ever missed. No one's feelings get hurt that we haven't talked on the phone. No one expects the other to know all the details of things that have happened in the meantime. We try to keep each other in the social loop for events and such, but life happened, and we just catch up on all of it when we can.

One of the best scenarios for me about this is my BFF Laurie. Laurie is abroad for med school, so on top of the time change (I am so bad at those. She's something like five to forever hours ahead ha), she is crazy busy with classes and rounds and papers and studying. I'm of course not as busy as she is, but my days fly by. We attempt a standing Sunday afternoon Skype video or phone chat date, but it's hit or miss. Otherwise, we grab each other for five or 15 minutes here or there over email or IM.

And you know what? It works. It's not always seamless (I can't be there for her when she has a tough day at the hospital, and she might have no idea for days that something has happened to me here) but it fits our friendship. Of course I can't wait for her to hit her Fourth Year of school when she is back in the States on rotations, but until the Fall, I am okay with these last few online dates where and when we can.

There's no real solution to this issue, and I know that everyone handles these ups and downs of friendships differently. All I know is this: some of my favorite people in the world are the ones that I haven't seen in weeks or months. I miss them all the days in between, think about them often and fondly, and try to reach out here and there when I can. I also know that they try the same for me, and that they are thinking about me out there, too. When it comes to friendships, what better is there than that? Sure, I could see you every day, but the distance makes the heart fonder, and typically the conversations, when they happen, are more in-depth and interesting, too.

So however it ends up, my friends, and however frequently we touch base, just know that I am thinking of you all! And Facebook-stalking you in my free time to "stay current." Haha j/k. Kind of.

For more of my fav posts on friends and keeping in touch, see this post or this one. This topic always enlivens a rainy afternoon in the bloggy world :)