reconnecting

My day to day life is not exciting... it is not overwhelming... not even exhausting- so why do I lose touch with friends I really care about? I am not a bad communicator, so maybe it's just timing, and my unobtrusive nature? I would rather write a note and send it on it's way, than make a phone call that might interrupt... I think I mentioned before that I am trying to get over this fault, but habits are hard to break. Yesterday I got an e-mail from a friend... we had not spoken (or e-mailed) since December... December. That's six months! She had really been on my mind the past couple of weeks, for a variety of reasons, and so I immediately started replying to her note- than stopped and picked up the phone. How nice it was to pick up where we left off, catch up and chit chat, and know that pages on a calendar do not separate friends.

While I was on vacation last week, my little phone rang, and it was my Forever Friend... calling from Michigan. We shared rushed words, laughter, similar heartfelt emotion, and most of all, our thankfulness for this reconnection of our friendship. There was a time when I did not go a day without talking to her for a hour on the phone... or leave the safety of our neighborhood and head to the mall without her reinforcements (how 1 Mom and 2 toddlers is any different that 2 Moms and 4 toddlers is beyond me, but it worked!) Our lives were intertwined, and then they weren't- not for any reason but time and distance. And so years have passed and we have both missed each other- and now we are reconnecting. We are remembering how closely our hearts mirror each others... how our values and thoughts turn in sync... why we became so close in the first place. And I am thankful... so thankful for the renewal of this great friendship.

Over the years I have realized that time and distance are only paths along the way... we can each take a path that leads us from a time and a place and a friend, and yet, the way back is only a moment away. I can pick up the phone and make that call, and be instantly transported back to giggling sleepovers, sunburned days on the beach, walks around the neighborhood, bike rides through Waterways, preschool moments, drives on MLK, and days of double double strollers. Friends forgive... friends know that there really is no fault at all... friends know that reconnection takes only a flash of a memory and the reaching out of a hand... and friends know that no time or distance can erase the fun and fellowship shared.