February 26, 2008

That Felt Good

Yesterday was a major catch-up day for me. I talked to 2 different friends on the phone that I haven't spoken to in WAY too long. It's amazing how a couple of 30-minute phone calls can rejuvenate your spirits.

Friend #1 is my grad school savior. Kristy and I started talking regularly in 2002. My brain can't remember exactly when we met, but I'm sure we had a handful of undergrad classes together before then. We had similar thesis projects and spent many an hour commiserating about classes, soil testing or just life in general. Typically if I wasn't in my lab, I was in hers, or vice versa. When we weren't chit chatting about something we were typically in class together as probably 75% of our classes were scheduled at the same time. I whole heartedly admit that she is one of the main reasons that I made it through grad school with my sanity and sense of humor. When we graduated in 2004 our regular conversations became intermittent. Her husband started medical school and she moved 45 minutes away. I started working full time and became wrapped up in starting a family (and everything that it entailed). I think that I've only seen her once since we graduated and that was back in 2005 at some meetings. But anyways...she's due to have baby #2 on Friday so I was determined to call before the new little one arrived. We had a fantastic conversation yesterday. It made me realize how much I miss our conversations.

Friend #2 is one of my high school saviors. Nate listened to my woes about everything High School related. We'd sit and talk for hours after meetings or practices (we were involved in a club together as officers our junior/senior years) and he was one of the few people who would be honest with me and tell me to pull my head out of my ass. Sometimes I'd listen; sometimes I wouldn't. We went off to Michigan State together and took a handful of classes concurrently so our conversations continued. I was dating one of his best friends when I went to Nepal (check out the "A Story for the Ages..." posts from March 2006 for more background on that). So when I came back and broke up with Kyle, there was some tension between N and I for a while. We made amends and I couldn't blame him as we was room mates with the guy after all. Hahaha. After C and I married and moved to Utah, N moved to Arizona to finish his schooling. We went down for his wedding and I haven't seen him since then. In the midst of my miscarriages in 2005 he moved to Colorado to teach and I lost contact with him. (I'm beginning to see a trend that I let many friendships lapse during that time. That bothers me because I know it was my fault.) A couple of weeks ago a mutual friend of ours (one that I have stayed in contact with) asked me if I had talked to Nathan recently. This prompted me to consult my good friend G00gle and see if I could track him down. Much to my surprise he called me almost immediately after I sent an email. After a few messages left on voice mails, we finally had a conversation last night. It was another fantastic chat and it also made me realized how much I've missed talking to him.

So my goal is to make a concerted effort to stay in contact with these friends. Although our lives had taken us in very different directions, talking to them reminds me of who I am and where I've been. And how important they are (and all my friends are) in my life. Those phone conversations are definitely worthwhile.

2 comments:

KarenMM said...

It is very easy to let some friendships go. I think about it all the time and wonder where my friends all went.

But I also remind myself that if they were friends they would've made an effort as well to keep in touch, right?

Glad that you were able to reconnect with some old friends and hopefully you won't "lose" them again.

Kristen said...

Wait a minute... didn't we talk yesterday. I thought five minutes with me trumped all else. :>) Hehe!!! Glad you got to catch up with old friends. It is a strangely rejuvenating thing to talk to old friends.