Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Make new friends, but keep the old…

That's the first line of a song we learned in Brownies, many years ago, and sang it in a round. The other line to the simple ditty: one is silver and the other gold.

I've not been a good friend over the years. In fact, my life is divided into segments in my mind when I was involved in one thing or another and it was always accompanied by one or two people who were special. Then I'd leave the project, leave the community and completely fall out of touch. For years, I tried to keep up with Holiday cards, or email, or an occasional phone call. Now, I find myself lurking on Facebook pages or twitter accounts, wanting to know what is going on with the people I have cared about, but apparently not enough to actually invest time in them.

So as summer turns to fall, I have decided to try some new things. One of those things will be the reconnection project. I don't anticipate that I will renew and revitalize all the relationships I've left behind, but I do think I can make some connections with the people, who like me, didn't mean to fall out of touch so much, but rather fell into the rhythm of the life they were living in each moment.

I don't have regrets about living. I just don't want people to feel forgotten.

I'll try to keep up a report.

Today, I wrote a letter to an old friend I used to write with, chat with daily. A good man, kind, compassionate, thoughtful. I know I won't ever fall back into the daily connection routine, but there is no reason to be miserly with my words. I know he will be happy to hear from me.

Some of the connections won't be happy, and I won't hear replies. I am promising myself not to take it personally. How many times have I done the same?

If our friends are the measure of our treasury, then I've accumulated a fortune. I just have to figure out now how much of it I've spent.

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