Well I’m “psychologically” limping towards a new year, hopefully to make more positive headway in dealing with my Depression. Christmas is passed for another year, and now things will begin to take a more “normal” course for most of us.
I caught up with a few friends I don’t often see, although I make an effort to communicate to most of my friends by email or phone, or even Instant Messaging at least every fortnight. I think I’m quite lucky in some ways (when I’m thinking positively that is), I still have a few good friends from many years ago. I have at least one from my teens that I still see and talk to regularly (now that I’m not being slack).
I still have three or four from my early Twenties too, made during my first stint at University. It doesn’t sound much, but when you have held such friendships well over Thirty years, you can feel that they mean something. I remember being told by a man I admired very much when I was young and he was alive, that “(I)f you have even one friend in your middle age from your childhood then you should feel very lucky. You can also tell yourself you worked hard with that one!”
Not something easy to appreciate to it’s fullness when you’re in your early Teens, but now I feel the truth in that statement. I try to pass that small jewel onto some of my younger friends today, but whether it will stick is something only time can tell. But I’m glad I listened. Friendships do need to be nurtured or they do eventually die of starvation, just like a plant that isn’t cared for, or a house that’s not maintained. There are sometimes ones that are lost through circumstance, you can only do so much each, and there are always factors outside of our control, we don’t live in vacuums. There are myriads of connections between people, like nodes on the internet. We can’t always have the solid connection that others will have, and sometimes things just break and can’t be reconnected. No matter how much effort we make, sometimes things just aren’t meant to have a span past the time they do.
I want all my friends to know that they ARE appreciated. More often than not you are there when I need you, although sometimes you won’t even realise you’ve been needed and come through! 🙂