First and foremost, I should probably begin with a disclaimer.
DISCLAIMER: This post is in no way intended to offend any of my friends, family, or other people in my life. The intention behind it is more to show love and just put my thoughts out there.
Side note - DISCLAIMER P.S. - At the same time though, over the past couple years, I think I'm starting to care less about what others think about me. I could write an entire post about this point, but I've spent a lot of my life worrying too much about what others think. It's not that I don't care or that I'm trying to shove people away... certainly not. It's more just about wanting to be true to myself.I think I want to start out with the following pretty broad statement: To all my real friends and family, I love you all dearly and only wish we could spend more time together. I wish that life moved slow enough for us to all share our lives more fully. We spend so much time apart and so much time with other people in our lives (coworkers, etc). I'm reminded of a quote by Bilbo Baggins.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you, half as well as you deserve."I've always had a fairly small group of friends, and I believe I prefer it that way (Having nothing to compare it to, I can't say for certain, but I firmly believe that would be my preference). I think it's difficult and unreasonable to try to maintain a multitude of close relationships. What's a 'multitude'? I'm sure that's different for everyone, but I tend to feel my definition is pretty small. I'd rather be your 'friend' rather than your 'buddy'. I'd rather be someone you know you can count on and know that I can count on you as well. What's a 'close relationship'? That too is probably different for everyone, but I'd generally like to be closer to all my friends.
I recognize the importance of having true friends in your life. One of the most wonderful things about friendship is that it's voluntary. There is no obligation like there tends to be with family. There's an interesting discussion that could be had about the differences in relationships between family members and those between friends. I know a few people in my life that don't seem to have any of these types of relationships (friends), and I think it's pretty sad.
As my wife and I have gotten older, we've watched as our friends began having babies and how life fills up with other activities as a result. Now that we're parents, we're definitely aware that the same thing is happening to us. That's not to say that I/we resent our friends or our kids. Certainly not! I'm merely pointing out that something has to give in our busy lives. Have people's lives always been as busy? Not according to my grandparents. This too could easily be a topic of an entire post, but I digress.
I started off this post with saying I had no idea where it was going, and I think I've successfully demonstrated that point. I'm not sure where I am with this post at this point so it's probably time to send it out into the ether. I do love my friends and family (most of the time).
Until next time
