After spending three days solely with my family, I set out to see my dear friends whom I had not seen for months. I scheduled my few, precious days full of meetings, and I don’t think there has ever been a week when I have drunk more tea. I was so happy to see everyone, talk to them, see them smile again, hear their voices. In most cases, it felt as though I’d never left; we jumped right into discussions on common friends, political theories, ambitions, careers, life reflections, the new Touring Choir (those impostors), or advanced physics in the case of dear Josh. My heart was full of love for them. Even as we talked, though, I felt the rift that months had put between us, how our lives had diverged even for just this little time.
I imagined the months ahead: The now seniors would graduate and pick colleges; the now college freshmen would go on to internships and study abroad in far-away places. Even I, in less than a year, would be immersed in studies and far from home at Wheaton College. How soon would it be that our friendships would lose their revelancy and become rimmed with obligation and made of only stale high school memories?
I don’t want to lose the sense of a growing friendship, the sense that we are still making memories now even though hours of driving divide us. It’s a good reminder to not be stuck on the past, thinking and talking about "the good old days," but to be looking ahead to keeping these dear friends close to my present heart. Calls, texts and letters while we are now apart symbolize for me the hard work needed to keep our lives stitched together, keeping me up-to-date on what they are invested in and challenged by.
I saw a saying hung on Amy’s bedroom wall that says it well: "Friendship is not one big thing; it’s many little things." Little things are hard work, and they often feel insignificant, but these friends are well worth it. Where we will be even in a year when I come home from Wheaton, I don’t know, but I will do my part in being a friend to them despite the miles.
Excerpt from a blog post by Erin. To see the full post, click here.
