Since moving away from home for college I have enjoyed packing up and moving to new places, or exploring familiar places more. I loved making a life for myself in St. Louis, then Syracuse, and most recently, Kansas City. I love getting involved in a city, meeting people at work, and engrossing myself in the soul of a city as much as possible. What is even more important than the sites, architectural marvels, unique coffee shops, community gardens/parks, or "claim-to-fame" historical events are the people.
I enjoyed taking the bus to work in Syracuse and seeing faces that became familiar. I would even worry if a regular bus-rider wasn't on in the morning and felt such relief when I saw them a day or two later. I loved the clients I worked with in Syracuse and Kansas City who shared their lives with me and allowed me to witness them in such vulnerable moments of their existence. I thrive when working with people, when building relationships, sharing life moments, and empathizing with one another. When I move to a new place my mom has said I "bloom" or I "make the best of it". So obviously, I make friends. :)
Friends are pretty much the most important facet of my life, okay not just pretty much, they are. (Family included people, no need for alarm.) I have lots of "best friends" because to me "best friend" is a category rather than a single individual. I have best friends from grade school, high school, college, Syracuse, Kansas City, etc. Lots of people in my life are my "best friends" and the category keeps increasing its occupancy as I get older.
As my friends know, my travel bug has been itching lately and my departure for Australia is now approaching at rapid speed. Before I go abroad for about a year I am spending time at home and trying to see friends and family to soak up some extra love that I can pack with me across the ocean. My small stints of US travel have blessed me with the opportunity and insight to truly appreciate the friends that I have. Although I don't know what it is like to have a long-distance romantic relationship I propose that long-distance friendships are just as challenging/wonderful. I am used to having to maintain friendships over long distances. I love writing letters, emails, sending song and quotes through Facebook, texting, phone calls, and video chats. I always seem to be communicating with more people not in my immediate proximity but rather a couple hundred miles away.
All of this being said, it is exceptionally hard for "everyone to get together" when best friends are dispersed throughout the world. The six of us contributing to this bloggy blog here haven't been together in over 2 years, probably closer to 3 now that I think about it. The chances of three of us getting together is generally pretty high but four, five, or all six of us together is something we undoubtedly have to plan for months/years in advanced. For instance, Meghan came to visit Ohio while for a few days this past week and it was great! Four of us could be together (no pictures to recount this since we are all very over looking nice in each other's presence and simply enjoy the presence of one another rather than our exterior appearances) and we thought there was a chance that even five of us could be together...but as fate would have it, another one of us went to visit family in Florida at the same time that Meghan came to Ohio from Florida. Ironic right?!
I love my best friends, I love having friends all over the US and the world and I do my best to keep up with everyone which can be tricky with the time zones. But sometimes I want to be selfish and have everyone, right here, right now, with me, no planning necessary. Is this too much to ask!? Dear universe, I believe that having best friends is a blessing but getting everyone together unfortunately seems to be cursed.
