Friendships

Friends have ALWAYS been an important part of my life. Being the third child with my older sister being 5 years older and my younger sister being 5 as well (my oldest sister was 8 years), my friends filled in that time gap. I feel so blessed because my sisters are so close to me, and I also have some close friends.

Recently I've reconnected with one of my first friends. When I was 5 we lived in Texas, and my neighbor who lived two doors down had a daughter a year older then me. After first grade we moved to New York and I was heart broken. We had moved while she was away visiting family. I didn't get to say goodbye. I spent lots of nights as a 7 year old crying from missing her so badly! In an e-mail recently she put it really well, it was one probably the first times I understood what friendship really meant.

Since then I've been blessed with many friends, and I've always kept them close. Living on Long Island, I didn't say goodbye to friends too often. Most families stayed put. Now living in DC it's been a struggle for me. It's such a transient place, and people move in and out all the time. I've really had to pray for peace over the distance put in my friendships developed now. (and sometimes I pray for the Lord's direction for them to be kept here!) As of now, we have friends planned to move to San Diego in July- so hard to process losing them!

My mom has always demonstrated the ability to keep in touch with her friends from long ago. I've luckily got some of that in me. So I find a peace in having friends all over the country and even in different countries. We've had the chance to visit from time to time, and I hope we'll continue to keep our connection as the Lord leads our lives apart from each other..

I also have to work really hard at it now with a developing family. I know it's possible though, and I remember many times my mom on the phone catching up with friends, which seemed like for hours to me (probably because I wanted something from her!) despite having four kids. I am really encouraged by my reconnecting with my old friend and how technology has been able to put us back in touch with each other... who knows, my mom may have been able to connect with more people had she had e-mail to do it so quickly, rather then the money for those long distance phone calls! (actually she has been able to recently catch up with friends she lost touch with for many years because of e-mail!) I do love that my mom has always shown a strong value on her friendships- and I hope that I carry that on!