friends

i learned yesterday that two more friends have found this blog- thanks for visiting! it's nice to think of you, pieces of my heart and soul, sitting out there in places of my past lives, visiting my present life.

one thing that i have found, and i will echo jen-nay's sentiments here, is that it is harder than you think it will be to keep in touch with people you love after you no longer live in the same city. it's strange, and sad, that people who once formed the core of your life, whose lives were woven together so intricately with yours, be that in school or work or whatever have you, so easily slip away, if you don't actively and intentionally and continually move to keep them close. but that's just part of it though, right? because even though i don't see you or talk to you every day, you still live in my heart, and i still think about you, and i hope you think about me.

there are my girls from chicago, contact with whom is intermittent at best, but whose faces and laughter are frequently in my thoughts, and whom i think about with such deep fondness and affection and longing, but whom i seldom call or even email, and i wonder, do they think about me? some of them, obviously, do, as presumably at least two of them will read these words at some point. to you i want to say- i miss you. i love you. you are very dear to me.

then there is the crew from the lou. again, people who i spent countless hours with, sharing frustrations and happinesses (can you say that?)- work people who moved apart unintentionally after the Man fired them or encouraged them to leave or drove them away. but still, we stayed in touch, had lunches together, emailed, had sushi... but then i moved away-away, and i'm left with this feeling of loss, and this feeling of, are they having lunch without me? does anyone remember me? or bring me up in conversation? once again- obviously a few of you remember me, or else you probably wouldn't be reading this. i love you people too, and i miss you.

(if you find yourself left out of this abbreviated list, please know that it was intentional. there are a couple of people out there who i can't really categorize. you probably know who you are. our bonds are genetic, or metaphysical, or whatever, and they are very stong.)

you people out there, close to my heart, far from my physical location (i was going to say, far from my body, but that starts to sound creepy and sexual, which is not at all what i am getting at here), and i think you know who you are, whose geophysical location does nothing more than pull the bands around our hearts all the tighter. how am i so blessed to have such friends? it is comforting, out here in the new life where there really aren't any friends yet, to spend a few minutes now thinking of you, and being grateful, and remembering how fortunate i am to have you in my life.