Friendships

     Coming home is something of a rarity for me these days. And it truly feels like a "break" because, despite the huge pile of homework that I need to do this week, I truly have no where to be other than home. No classes, no work, no going to the office (although I haven't done that in quite some time now). Plus, I really don't live here anymore so it really is vacation. Today is Palm Sunday, which in the Catholic world means a longer mass where we read the Passion of the Christ. Yes, that Passion. The Passion that spawned that very long and grueling movie by Mel Gibson. But I digress. It's the start of Holy Week because a week from today is Easter. So this week there is mass Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Because I am no a disciplined Catholic, I will most likely only go on Sunday (one because I can only handle so many masses in a row and two because my parents won't be around to make me go). It's a week that most people who do not regularly attend mass try to go. So this means that this morning at church I saw a TON of people. I love my church community. We are one giant family. And I mean that. I have so many sets of "parents" that it's unbelievable. And I saw a few today and it was wonderful =).
     But it got me thinking about relationships that we have when we live at home and how they change when we leave. For me, when I left for school, I left behind a lot of friends and knew no one at school. Now, I keep in touch with most of my friends from home sparingly, with the occasional Facebook chat conversation here and there. Some I miss a lot and would like to talk to more and others...well it just wasn't meant to be a lifelong friendship. What amazes me and makes me so happy is the relationships that I have with some of my friends. The ones that no matter how long it's been since I talked to them or seen them, we can just jump right back in like we never parted. Those are the friendships that I love. And hold very near and dear to my heart. You know who are (even if you're not reading this).
     Also, the other night when I first got home and everyone was in bed by 10 (waaaaaay too early for me), I sort of stared around my room for a bit, looking through my closet at all the things that I had deemed unnecessary to bring to college with me. One of those things was a trinket box that I got from a friend for my 16th birthday. We were such good friends then that she had even had it engraved. I haven't talked to her really since that year. So I sent a little facebook note to her to say hello. Ah, the wonder of Facebook. I don't know how we got on with keeping in touch with people before the internet. Those were the days when you really had to put in an effort.
     This was another emptying-of-my-brain posts but I hope you enjoyed it and it got you thinking. Who are the people that no matter where you are in the world or what point in your life you're at do you still want to keep in touch with? My friend Nick made a comment last week that went along the lines of "If we all (my group of friends at school) do not keep in contact til our dying day.....well I'll be sad." The truth is that some of us will and some of us won't. My parents are perfect examples of that. Some of their friendships have sustained over the years and some friends were just there for a bit.
     "Some people were meant to be in your life forever and others are just meant to make an appearance." - Greek