The More Things Change, The More Things Stay The Same

Before I can post about my impending move to St Louis, MO, I have to upload the pictures I took when I visited. And to upload the pictures, I have to put new batteries in my camera. Unfortunately, the batteries are on the living room table. The camera is on the floor next to my bed. Conundrummmm. In the meantime, I'll just talk about something that's been on my mind a lot lately - friendship.

I think I am extremely lucky in the friendship department. I have friends from elementary, middle, and high school that I love dearly, and friends from college that I couldn't imagine my life without. They cover the whole spectrum and they are my second family. Some are the kind that I can go for weeks or months without talking to, and then we sit down for coffee, or dinner, or whatever it is, and its like nothing has changed. We slide right back into our warm, comfortable friendships. Others I talk to often - we text, bbm, gchat, email, travel together, travel to each other, live together, work together, eat, drink, and play together. These are the friends that I will think of if I see something funny, or ridiculous. They are the ones I call if I am sad, lonely, happy, nervous, or bored.

High school friends know each other in a way that college friends cannot. High school friends have watched you grow from awkward fourteen year old to graceful adult. These are the friends that are in your first grade class picture. They are the ones who can tell you the exact moment you met on the first day of middle school. The ones who say, "I was walking past our old bus stop today, do you remember when..." and the ones who can communicate an inside joke with one sidelong glance.

College friends are the friends who watched, and helped, as you took control of your life. They watched you decide your future, they gave advice or they supported you silently. These friends shape you in a different way than childhood friends, but in a way that is just as important.

I am personally a pretty contact-oriented person. I have no problem hugging, kissing, cuddling, spooning, sharing beds with, piggybacking, being picked up by, or snuggling with my friends, male or female. Some people are not like that, and I respect that. But I wont think twice about throwing my arms around a friend I haven't seen in a year and a half. I'm pretty much the perfect size to curl up in someone's lap. Being picked up and carried off doesn't faze me. For me, its normal for people who love each other to want to be close to each other, and I love my friends.

This said, I am not great at keeping in touch with friends. I think about them often, even ones I haven't spoken to or seen in years. Once someone has taken up space in my heart, that space is open for them. (With very few exceptions.) Basically, I think my friends are critically important and a huge part of my life. Being apart from friends is probably the thing I worry about most. For example, I'm moving to St Louis in August, and I am sooo relieved that one of my college friends will be there with me. But I can already feel how much I'm going to miss my friends from home, my college friends, my roommate...everyone. One of my friends is going to Tokyo next week, for two years. Every time I see him, I feel like it might be the last time and I want to hug him forever.

But the great part about friendship is that it can be flexible. Maybe I wont see this friend for two years, but I will definitely see him again. My college roommates and I are committed to vacationing together at least once a year. There are high school and college reunions. And the internet! So, I guess the moral of the story is - keep your friends close.