There is something to be said for a good friend.  What defines a good friend?  For me, it’s someone who truly cares about you.  Someone who tries to be a part of your life without expecting anything in return except for you to be there for them as well. It’s the exchanges that you have with that friend, there’s give and take…not just take.

I think it’s funny that as time goes on the definition of what a friend is can be redefined, but the core principles are there. These are the people that if the world was on fire, and you had a one way ticket outta there, that you would make sure were with you.

I think also, having moved so far away from most of our friends has proved another point - the distance doesn’t have to matter if that friend doesn’t let it.  I mean come on, with all the technology out there, I can know what my friends in Italy and England are doing just as well as I can my friends who live in the same zip code.  I find it amazing that sometimes the “outta sight, outta mind” practice comes into play, I think that’s a sad reason to lose touch.

This comes about as I’ve recently had the chance to reconnect with some childhood friends, and I am so thankful to have them back in my life.

Also, I had lost touch with a great friend from college and when he moved back to his home in another country he disappeared.  A few years went by, emails bounced back, and then he was gone.  BUT -I decided it wasn’t going to be without a fight!  I googled that friend’s name for months on end and one day something came up!  A name on a graduate schools class roster.  I emailed the professor explaining who I was, and what I was trying to do and then a few weeks went by and I figured it was a dead end…then VOILA - I got an email from my long lost friend!  It turns out that while he was doing Relief Missions to disaster stricken areas all over the world he has limited to no access to the internet…Yahoo canceled his email address after a period of inactivity and suddenly he didn’t have anyone’s email, phone number or address.  Imagine that! 

My point is don’t always give up on people…you never know what circumstances are standing between you and that person you care about.