Today at work, one of my co-workers was telling us about childhood friends that she has kept in touch with over the years. Listening to her, I thought to myself that I've done a really lousy job keeping in touch with my friends. I left my hometown in Indiana to move to South Carolina two years after graduating from high school, and have pretty much lost touch with everyone I knew then. It made me really sad to think about all those people that I at one time had a strong connection and were no longer a part of my life. However, one of my very dearest friends that I’ve known since I was 3 years old still lives close to my hometown, her parents still live in the house across the street from the house I grew up in. She was the friend I had constant sleepovers with, did gymnastics in the front yard with, and played tag all evening long with. We have spoken only a handful of times over the course of our adult lives, and it’s probably been five years since we last spoke. I lost her email address years ago when my computer crashed, so I went to whitepages.com and found she and her husband were still living in the same house as they were the last time I saw her about 22 years ago. I called her during my lunch hour, and it was so wonderful to hear her voice again, telling me all about her daughters and grandkids, her chaotic pet-sitting business, her wonderful husband, the tragic loss of her brother. I vowed then that I would call or email often to stay in touch with her because I don’t want to lose that part of my life. My friends mean too much to me to lose them.
Wendy, I’ve missed you and I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you.
