What about friends?

Yes, friends. New ones, old ones, ones who have gone M.I.A. from our lives. I was never one for hanging out with a really large group of friends, I preferred to have several close friends and spend time with them. When I was little I had two best friends and that was okay with me. As I grew up in to middle school and the beginning of high school, I think I had five really good friends. By the time we moved in the middle of high school, I was ready to branch out and had a bigger group of friends who I spent a lot of time with. And after graduation I hung out with a group of people that Frank referred to as "The Herd" - we all went everywhere together and everyone dated or "hooked up" with one another at some point. I was the first in the herd to get married and, therefor, had to leave.

Sigh.

It wasn't until after I moved away from New York that I began to realize that as a married couple, Frank and I had very few friends. We were young, married, with a child and most of our friends were still single or childless - we had nothing in common with the people we knew. So when we arrived here in North Carolina and I started getting involved in different groups and we were going to church, all of a sudden I had friends all over town! I couldn't go anywhere without bumping in to someone that I knew and I LOVED that! It still happens everywhere I go but nowadays, I have reverted back to my youth in the fact that I still prefer my little core group of friends - which consists of about 4 gals. We go out to eat together, workout together and just generally have a ball whenever we go places.

Facebook adds another angle to this. I have gotten in touch with people who I haven't seen or spoken to in YEARS! This has been a lot of fun. But my main problem with all of this is people's, I don't know, say...lack of manners. I'm big on the manners and I know it's stupid but it bugs me. I was on the phone with my friend Lori the other night and she was saying the same thing - if you send a message saying hello to someone (who is your friend/has accepted your friend request) why can they NOT just write a quick note back acknowledging you and the fact that you said hello? I mean, really? Is it that difficult to just say hello? I've had people friend request me that I really don't remember all that well or we weren't close friends but if they drop me a note, I'll say hello! I've had some really good friends from childhood - I mean we grew UP together - who hardly ever write back. I'm sorry, but that's just rude. Especially when you see that they are dropping notes to everyone in a 10,000 mile radius.

Rude.

I don't know, maybe life was better before the age of the internet where you just had to deal with the fact that people were no longer in your life. Maybe they're not there for a reason. To me that's sad. I mean, who doesn't need friends? I'm not clingy (I don't think) and I don't travel much (so I won't be showing up on anyone's door) so what can it hurt to just write? Oh, I know, it CAN'T! It has been fun just seeing where people are at in life , what their kids look like, and all that, I just miss the actual talking to people. I'm very social and I love to talk and laugh with people. Luckily I have my gals near-by to keep my smiling. While the electronic age has it's perks, I'm blessed to be where I'm at and with the people that I'm with.

So here's a challenge for you this week - who are your friends? Have you spoken to them lately? When was the last time you picked up the phone and called someone just to say hello, OR when was the last time you dropped them a note (or e-mail) just to see how they're doing? Take a few minutes this week and touch base with someone who is on your mind. You don't know, you may make their day!