I have a hard time keeping up with friends and family who live far away. I am just not very good about writing or calling to keep in touch. It's not that I don't want to know how they are doing, but for some reason I don't often reach out to keep that connection alive. Once I've let months go by without contacting them, it somehow seems awkward to try to re-connect. Our lives go on our separate ways, and the things we had in common, that drew us together, are no longer there.
I know I'm not the only person who struggles with this. I discovered how true this is the other day. I recently added a new friend on a social networking site, actually a friend of my parents who is a missionary and for whom we prayed regularly during family devotions growing up. When she accepted me, she noticed that I was also friends with someone she had gone to school with way back when. Long story short, she asked me how I knew this person, and I replied that I didn't really know her, but since she was friends with my parents, I had accepted her friend request. Come to find out, it was my mom's first cousin. And I had no idea. It's the sad reality of the world we live in today; travel is so easy that friends and family often end up in distant places. That's what happened with my mom's cousin. She lives in another state, and I only remember meeting her once growing up. She has three daughters, one of whom is my age, and yet I have only met them one time. It's sad to think about the relationships that have never been. But it isn't really surprising. It takes a lot of effort to maintain distant relationships. It isn't impossible, though.
Two sets of friends have moved away within the last seven months. They were the closest friends my husband and I have made here, and so it was really hard to see them go. But I am making a concerted effort not to lose touch. We email and call each other with fair regularity, and we'll actually be getting together with both of them within the next month or so! I'm determined not to lose these friends. They are such dear people; it takes an effort, but the rewards are great!
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I know what you mean. Long distance relationships come at a cost...a much higher cost than friends nearby. The very best ones are worth it. I just read "The Shaping of a Christian Family" by Elisabeth Elliot about her parents and her growing up years...after they grew up and moved away their mother wrote letters to them every week, and the siblings wrote to her 2 or 3 times/month, and she photocopied all the letters they sent and sent them out to all the other siblings along with her letters, so they all stayed connected that way throughout their adult years. Isn't that cool?
ReplyDeleteYou're better than I am about keeping in touch. You call Dad and Mom way more than I ever did when I lived in Illinois. (= You're doing a good job!