Today's topic of discussion is friends. There are so many things that apply to this simple word I can't begin to cover them all today, but I thought I'd share just a few.
We live in a small community, at least 30 minutes driving distance from our nearest friends. Life gets busy or we forget and so we don't often get to visit or make plans with those who are close to us. Mr. Man and I were talking about how so many of our friends live a good distance away. It's not like in college when they were in the same town (or perhaps even the same apartment!). So for me, one thing I value is visits and time with those friends. Lunch or supper out with a girlfriend or an afternoon spent at our friends' house is refreshing and a good reminder that we're not just parents, but young people who like to get out and do things!
This weekend we have a couple of our really close friends coming to visit. I went to high school and was friends with L and Mr. Man went to school and was friends with J. Funny how that works out sometimes, right? They just had a baby back in October so he's right about 5 months old. I can't wait to see how much he's grown! We're planning on having supper together and just catching up. I really wish we lived closer!
Then in a couple weeks, we're going to another friend's house for the day. Squishy will stay with one of our parents, probably and we get a little breather. What's nice is that most of our friends are at the "family" stage in life. They are married and have kids or want kids. They understand how life can sometimes get away from us. Mr. Man's friend, J (different from the above mentioned J) will be back from Indiana for a few days and he and his wife, L (different from L above!) will be joining us. Mr. Man and J were childhood friends and always enjoy getting together. They have 4 beautiful children who have just gotten so big! There will be more people there than just us 4, but it will be especially nice for us to spend time with them, seeing as how they live so much further away!
You know that friend you had when you were little? And perhaps you don't get to see them much now, but when you do it's like you never lost any time between? I have a friend like that. We became attached at the hip in the 2nd grade and shared so many interests. I only get to see Iz every few months and I wish it were more (she's only 30 minutes away!) but time together is so much fun. There is not enough time in a day to exhaust our conversation. The visits always end too soon, but it's nice to know that our friendship can withstand all the time and distance. She's a friend I'll never outgrow and I hope that when I'm 75 and set in my ways (ha, like I'm not already!), she'll still be around and we'll still be able to pick up where we left off from the last visit.
Finally, I thought there were a few other friends that deserved some attention. Some people may find it strange, but I don't care. Ever since I started knitting and perusing Ravelry, I've met so many wonderful women and made so many great friends. No, I don't see them weekly or monthly. I may never meet them in person. But I talk to them at least once a day if not more, and I value them as friends. We meet, knowing we have knitting in common, and then realize there are other things that make us feel close to one another. These people are spread out all over the country, including the United States, Canada, Ireland and Australia. It would be amazing if we all lived closer, but instead we settle for chatting together online. Several of these ladies have blogs that I read daily, and it's like a glimpse into their lives. We share stories of all kinds and the generosity I've seen from these ladies is overwhelming.
Friends come in all shapes and sizes, from all over the world. It's easy to take your friends for granted, so I thought today would be a nice way to remind myself how much they mean to me. :)
What about you, Readers? Do you have friends close by? What do you do when you get together?
lovely post Rae Lynne. I wish I had a few more friends close by. Mind you I'd probably spend all our time eating chocolate and drinking wine! My waist line is happy most of them live a few provinces over!
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend with your friends! :)
That's awesome you have all these plans w/old friends!
ReplyDeleteI KIT w/my high school homegirls. We try to get together once a month. We usually go to someone's house and bring the kids to play with one another. It can be hard b/c two of them are nurses. I also got together w/some mommmies from my daughters school. No kids; just dinner, wine, and dessert and chat. Another group we get together to go to the spa and for some shopping afterwards.
Have a wonderful weekend! Like you my friends are a great distance away. At least an hour. We do seem to make it work though and I love it when we are able to get together.
ReplyDeleteI refer to you guys as "My Internet knitting buddies". :) Those Itty Bitty Knittys are an AMAZING group!! :) :) :)
ReplyDeleteI can honestly say that I have more "Internet Knitting Buddies" as Suzanne says (love that!) than I do friends that are close by. Living in a small rural community means that a lot of the younger people leave when they get older, so that means there are very few people my age around town. I do however, have a few friends that are older than me, but I love that I can learn so much wisdom from them!! I also have a cousin that I'm very close with, but she lives 4-5 hours away from me, so we keep in touch through Ravelry and email. It's so great to be able to do that, and I'm very, very happy that I've met all you wonderful ladies and that we can chat everyday no matter how far away we may live :)
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