I love my family of origin, I really do. I also love the family I married into. But I also love the family I've chosen, namely my friends. I have some amazing friends and I do like to talk about them. Apparently, this is my 100th post related to friends.
I read a book as a kid that talked about "little while friends" - the friends you make for just a short time, whether that's at the park for a day or only for a few years while you are in similar stages and places in life. I've had many little while friends. Facebook has changed up little while friends since you can stay "friends" with someone a lot longer than they are actively involved in your life, but sometimes being passive friends is nice too. When you think, "I wonder how so and so is doing", you can look at their Facebook page, provided you're still friends and they've updated lately. And when you do see each other after long absences, you don't have to spend quite as much time catching up.
Granted, I can't even remember all my little while friends names now. I remember faces, experiences, and the like, and that will have to do. A lot of people have made positive impacts on my life, even if I only knew them for a short time and have largely forgotten them by now. I hope I've done the same for them.
Long while friends, on the other hand, are even more treasured. Once these friends enter your life, they stick around through all the changes, moves, hard times, good times, and even the everyday mundane times. They always have your back and you have theirs. The relationship may ebb and flow over time, naturally, but it always exists.
As much as I've been blessed by any little while friends I've been lucky enough to meet, I've been even more blessed by my long while friends. Some I'm fortunate even to talk to every day, some every few days, and some even less than that. Some I haven't even met in person, yet. But they are my family of choice, and I know that if I need them, or they need me, we'll be there for each other.
As with so many of my posts recently, I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface of this topic, but I hope my friends, long while and little while and everything in between know that I love them and are glad they are in and ever have been in my life.
Final thought, after selecting a bunch of photos for this post - I don't think I have enough photos of me with my friends. I didn't do an exhaustive search of all the photos I've ever had, but I saw enough to notice some definite gaps. I hereby challenge myself to do better and take some more photos of me with my friends! If you're reading this and we're hanging out together in person, help me make this happen!
I read a book as a kid that talked about "little while friends" - the friends you make for just a short time, whether that's at the park for a day or only for a few years while you are in similar stages and places in life. I've had many little while friends. Facebook has changed up little while friends since you can stay "friends" with someone a lot longer than they are actively involved in your life, but sometimes being passive friends is nice too. When you think, "I wonder how so and so is doing", you can look at their Facebook page, provided you're still friends and they've updated lately. And when you do see each other after long absences, you don't have to spend quite as much time catching up.
Granted, I can't even remember all my little while friends names now. I remember faces, experiences, and the like, and that will have to do. A lot of people have made positive impacts on my life, even if I only knew them for a short time and have largely forgotten them by now. I hope I've done the same for them.
Long while friends, on the other hand, are even more treasured. Once these friends enter your life, they stick around through all the changes, moves, hard times, good times, and even the everyday mundane times. They always have your back and you have theirs. The relationship may ebb and flow over time, naturally, but it always exists.
As much as I've been blessed by any little while friends I've been lucky enough to meet, I've been even more blessed by my long while friends. Some I'm fortunate even to talk to every day, some every few days, and some even less than that. Some I haven't even met in person, yet. But they are my family of choice, and I know that if I need them, or they need me, we'll be there for each other.
As with so many of my posts recently, I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface of this topic, but I hope my friends, long while and little while and everything in between know that I love them and are glad they are in and ever have been in my life.
Final thought, after selecting a bunch of photos for this post - I don't think I have enough photos of me with my friends. I didn't do an exhaustive search of all the photos I've ever had, but I saw enough to notice some definite gaps. I hereby challenge myself to do better and take some more photos of me with my friends! If you're reading this and we're hanging out together in person, help me make this happen!
5 comments:
I see me! :)
Thanks for being such a great friend and for meeting up with me wherever we happen to be able!
Orem, DC, Atlanta, Cairo...and hopefully other places as well!
Yay good times!!
There have to be more photos of us than just at my wedding, but I can't think of when. We need to fix that.
Nancy - thank you back! Blake and I should take a road trip to Durham sometime. :) And then if we get our dream lawyer job, and you get your career wishes - who knows all the fun places we could meet up!?
Giggles - I have one from a party at my house in 2007, and there is one from my wedding. There might be more somewhere. Let's definitely fix that in a few weeks!
Yay friends! Yay you and Giggles! :)
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