Keeping Friendships Through the Years
Friendships are often those things that get lost as we get older. We’re buy in work, raising our kids, maintaining our marriages, staying healthy. And sadly, friendships may come and go.
I’m lucky to have friendships with women I met at camp 35 years ago. We don’t connect often, but when we do it’s like no time has passed at all. Having this sense of community is important to me.
I still stay in touch with old high school friends–many years later!
Back when Jack was born, Jeff and I lived in Charlotte for a year. I was a new mom in a new place with no local friends to turn to if I needed help. One day I took Jack to a book store and saw two moms with babies about Jack’s age. They were obviously friends, and I took bold action. I butted into their conversation.
Luck was on my side and the women invited me to a mom’s group at someone’s house. There were 12 other women in the group and it was instant community for me. The women were the most loving, warm people and I found something of value in everyone. I still keep in touch with many of them today.
I’ve made many friends through playing tennis, my kids’ play groups when they were younger, Beachbody, cheering on my kids during their various sporting events, being part of PTO.
The thing about friendships and community though is that it takes work. You have to make the effort to stay in touch with the people you connect with. We all get busy and other things seem like they might be more important. But really, we need friendships with different people and different groups.
I love watching my kids form friendships with diverse groups of people. They go to camp in Wisconsin and have friends across the country, friends they can easily stay in contact with during the school year thanks to the internet and social media.
I met this couple back in Charlotte 17 years ago, when Jack and their oldest son were newborns. Now they’re both heading off to college!
They’re all on different sports teams and go to different schools, making it a little more work to stay in touch after they’ve moved on to a different team or transitioned into a new school. Case in point: Charlie chose not to go to the high school where most of his friends ended up. But he’s made new friends both at his school and others.
Jack is going to college across the country in the fall and while one friend from high school is going to the same school, I know Jack will have the opportunity to connect with people from all different backgrounds. I’m so glad he’ll be able to have that chance.
Without your community of friendships, think about where your life would be right now. Friends are a necessity in life, like breathing and eating. What are you doing this week to make a new friend or reconnect with an old one?
