Friendships
Friends That Stay Connected No Matter What is Going On
My family and friends mean everything to me and I make sure I “touch” them on a regular basis. I don’t mean physically touch all the time, it might be a phone call, text or simply thinking of them as I’m going about my day. But, the disruption in my current living situation caused by my construction/repair mess (I’m out of my home for 3 months for repairs from a flood) has made it a little more challenging to keep all this touching going. You could say it’s put a real kink in how I normally connect with them.
The deal is that they are an integral part of the comfort in my life and keep me grounded, so when my routines are disrupted, I have to find a way to make sure they all stay right where they belong – close. Under normal circumstances, I might ask them over for coffee or a casual Saturday girl’s night with popcorn and a movie or just a glass of wine and a long chat. What I’ve realized is that it really doesn’t matter so much where I am with them, but just that we are together for whatever time we have planned.
The phone calls and texts are all the same, of course, but I’ve gotten a little more creative with where we are able to spend time together. Everybody enjoys time spent with friends differently – not everybody loves a big dinner out. Sometimes the best time is just an afternoon walking around with a friend and then a spontaneous dinner at my temporary digs of ravioli from my freezer, salad fixings from her apartment, a good baguette and a satisfying bottle of red wine watching silly TV. Now that’s a really good night that actually happened a week ago!
The trick is making sure the time happens, however you spend the time. I’ve just had to put a little more effort into making sure I get my “friends fix”. Maybe it’s a good thing that I’ve had to get out of my routines. Hmmmmm.