Friends (Relationships)

Friends (Relationships)

So… The auction is over, the stuff is gone… What is important? Well… not the stuff! My marriage is important. My family is important. My friends are important… But my friends, well in less than two weeks, they are gone, physically anyway. Some are close, some not, some are very, very close.

Saturday night I worked my last shift at a place I have to admit, I have a love and hate relationship with. I am sure, most of the people reading this can relate. But the people I work with, oh the people. OMG, I love them, the young, the old. The men, the women. The good, the bad… I am sitting at my computer early in the morning after my my last shift and I have to admit, I am very melancholy. I have used a pack of tissues (thanks, you know who :) ), drank a few glasses of wine and pondered in my oh so deep mind, LOL, all my friends that I had just left.

So… What happens when you quit your job, move away… Facebook, Instagram, email, Skype… Sure you can text or video or whatever, but what happens to the touch, the smells, the looks, the smiles, the poke in the ribs, the smirks, the hugs… And I ponder the following questions… What have we become? “Hey add me as a friend.” Send me a tweet, or a snap or whatever… Where is the relationship, the depth… the humanity? How do we stay friends? And hey, what are friends?

I remember the first time I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane, I was holding on to the wing spar, the jump-master gave me the thumbs up and I let go. I LET GO!!!! I remember watching the plane move away and get quite small in a very, very short span of time and I thought...”What the *&^%##$%%^ have I just done???!!!???” Then the parachute opened and WOW!!!! What a view! What a sensation! Totally brand new, never before happened to me and I forgot about the plane, the security I thought I had had in it and savoured the moment.

After the auction last week, I/we, had a ”What the *&^%##$%%^ have I just done???!!!???” moment. Then the chute opened…

Saturday night and another ”What the *&^%##$%%^ have I just done???!!!???” moment...

Sunday morning here and well… The chute hasn't quite fully opened yet and I am still a bit raw and in the ”What the *&^%##$%%^ have I just done???!!!???” state. When it is fully open, I am waiting to experience that next “thing”. It seems, friends are much harder to give up that stuff. Stuff can't hug you, make you mad, tell you a joke, comfort you when you are down, kick you in the butt when you need it. A friend can and will. I will be traveling with my best friend, Penny, but I will miss my work friends, my “better” friends, my good friends, my coffee friends, my “special” friends. I know I will make new friends but I like my old friends (looking at you Paul and Janie :) ). Will I ever see any of you again? God alone knows. That is, however, the way I have decided to play out this chapter of life with all it's ramifications and consequences. I accept that and I love you all!

More later… (where's my tissues…)

PS Well… another of those “Best Laid Plans” weeks and it is a few days after last Saturday & Sunday...