my high maintenance friend

This blog entry is for my high-maintenance friend, we’ll call her “Cali”. I found myself sitting across from this friend on Saturday night, enjoying an overpriced (albeit delicious) cocktail and wishing she lived here. Many miles and months may separate us on a daily basis, but we always fall into easy discussion and display genuine interest in each others’ lives and work and friends and family. We share history, and even as we recall some highly amusing and uniquely memorable anecdotes from our shared past, what I enjoy most about our renewed friendship is the fact that we have moved forward from that and forged new common ground in the process.

There are some friends that I feel I’m bonded to only through events that have long since passed. Those relationships are spent recounting events and tend to sit most comfortably recounting those events. It’s our only shared bond. While I appreciate those friendships and the memories they fortify me with, long-lasting friendships and relationships are tested over time by geography, the daily grind of living your life and a healthy dose of insecurity about how to navigate those things. Patience and confidence make all the difference.

So, as I say goodbye geographically to “Cali” for a few more months or longer, I do so with the confidence that while Facebook, e-mail and text messages may keep us in touch, there will always be another visit around the corner. I’ll meet you at Shallos at 7.