See those girls above? Those girls….they are my failure.
They are my best friends from college. They were the girls I did everything with. The girls I could always count on – through the countless nights out at a bar and for the crazy moments that life can throw at you.
I’m not necessarily thankful for this failure, but I do believe you learn from each mistake you make.
So how are these girls my failure?
I've failed them and our friendship. I've failed by not keeping in touch, by letting life get in the way, by going way too long between phone calls, and visits and by not making more effort.
None of these girls and I ever had a falling out. We never had a fight or a moment that ended it all. We just grew apart. We moved to different towns and states. Some married, while others have not. Life. It got in the way. The trips to visit each other became increasingly harder. The phone calls to keep in touch dwindled. A constant game of phone tag.
Yes, we still know the goings-on’s of each other’s lives thanks to Facebook and I still love all of them dearly, but it’s just not the same.
I guess that’s life. People are in your life for only a finite amount of time. Then life shifts and you move and those people - they still remain, but as memories.
I just can’t help feeling guilty. As if I’ve failed them. As if I somehow should have done more, tried harder, talked more, called more.
There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of them. I’m a bad friend and I know I could have done more.
So why am I thankful for this failure? It's forced me to realize that I need to stop making excuses. To reconnect. That it’s never too late. Over the next few weeks, I am going to call each of them. To chat about life, to catch up, to make the attempt.
And you know what’s crazy? It will be as though we hadn't missed a beat. We’ll pick up right where we left off and laugh until we cry.
Isn't that a failure worth being thankful for?
I'm linking up with Kenzie over at Chasing Happy for the month of November.Be sure to stop by and check it out!
keeping in touch with friends is so hard! I understand your feelings of failure on this so very well! However the best of friends are the ones you can pick back up with! That's so great you are still able to reconnect. :)
ReplyDeleteI am so in love with this post. I feel the same way. I have 30 some sorority sisters that I haven't kept in contact with after college. There is no excuse. Some friendships take more effort than others and lately I've been stuck taking the easy route. I'm officially reaching out to them and sending holiday cards for the first time as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the motivation!
Oh man, this is so true. My friends from high school all went off to different universities and it was hard to keep in touch. But, since I moved back to my home state it has been easier to reconnect, and now that I have Aria I appreciate their friendship even more especially seeing how much they love this little girl. But, it is oh so easy to forget to call and make excuses - I bet they will all love hearing from you this week!
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