Are you still best friends with your best friend from elementary school? From high school? From college? Do you still call them and keep up with the daily grind, or even just the big life events? I consider myself lucky to have a circle of friends from both high school and college that I want to be involved in my big life events and that hopefully feel the same about me. However, the more time I spend in Honduras, the obvious challenges to communication make me wonder how realistic it is to think I can maintain all these relationships. And in reality I know that they will change and mature in different ways with time. Yet, I’m not quite ready to give up the idea of my kids calling them all “aunt ____” because in my mind they will be involved in all the seasons of my life.
When recently at home, my mom received a message from an old college friend. It was this friend and her husband’s anniversary and they were writing to their college buddies, telling them thank-you for being supportive of them during their formative years of marriage. After receiving this message my mom began telling the stories of all the fun my parents had with this couple. She starts reminiscing and recanting stories of a group of several couples and friends, about rocking first babies together, going on crazy trips, and something about living in the “ghetto”. When I asked her, she told me that this couple was one of their closest friends during this time. And yet, I had never heard of them. That didn’t change the fact that clearly my parents enjoyed and cherished their friendship. It made me begin to think about the transition of friendships through time. And how, although you may not be as close as you would like, the ability to look back and treasure fond memories of a transitional or seasonal friendship, makes that friend just as valuable as one you call tomorrow and one you call in twenty years.
The link above is to an interesting post via an ex-pat in london about a recently released book depicting the challenges of making new friends as adults and the importance of having best friends. As I contemplate what my friendships look like as I try to follow life and jobs and engagements and weddings and babies from afar, its good to know that I’m not alone in the challenge! Thanks @aspiringkennedy for the link!
RCD
