Post-Schna-ulations

A moment to reflect

After a long week of work (which doesn't officially end until tomorrow around 1:00ish), I am taking today to get caught up on some of the light work I have to do, and also to just slow down and relax a bit. The massage last night was great, and the concert (or at least the pieces on which Alex Klein played) was mind-boggling (seriously, the man is. not. human.). The rain held off and gave way to another beautiful day (and a dry walk home last night). All together, these things have left me pensive. And so, I reflect...

Over the past several months (more or less since last summer), I've found that I have been losing touch with many friends I have scattered throughout the country. While it is not unusual for me to go several weeks, or even months, without talking to/emailing these friends, it still seems as if keeping in touch with them hasn't been much of a priority for me (which is not to say I don't want it to be). While I could blame this on being busy or being lazy, I think it also reflects the fact that I'm afraid to find out that we have grown too far apart.

I'm not talking about the good friends you have that, after moving away, eventually drift away, and while you're sad to see them go, you also realize that things change and you move on. I'm talking more about those few people who stick around, from year to year. Those people who you don't have to talk to often, but with whom you can pick up where you left off. Those people who really know you; the ones who don't need you to explain, but just know what you mean (even when you have difficulty articulating, as I often do). They are few and far between. They are worth the effort.

On the other hand, while that same understanding still remains, other things change. Common interests become fewer, common friends practially non-existant. I have found that, just one on one, things with these friends are still great. But in the context of my life, my friends or his/her life/friends, the differences become far too obvious, and even difficult.

I find myself wondering, too, as people I know in Pittsburgh are moving on to new places, who I will still know in the years to follow. I also find myself mentally planning trips to visit some of those friends I haven't seen in far too long - to New York, to Virginia, to Wisconsin, to Illinois, to Arizona, to Oregon, to Michigan, to Ohio, to Florida, to wherever else people now reside...TOO MANY PLACES, NOT ENOUGH MONEY!! And having no car doesn't help much either...

So my reflections are certainly nothing new and profound. I suppose I pose them more as a question as to how to best avoid (or embrace?) drifting apart, losing touch, changing.

posted by Schna @ 10:32 AM