Friends

The value of friendship is often lost in the day-to-day shuffle. We run, run, run trying to get ahead, just juggle job and family, submersed in the mundane. Then we say, "I wonder what happened to so-and-so, a friend I used to have."
The thing is--you have to cultivate friendships to keep them alive. You think that your favorite person will be waiting for you after you are done with everything else, but it isn't so. When you finally get to a conversation, there is none of the dailyness you used to have. You're not up to speed on their current loves, problems, illnesses or political passions. You try to talk about what used to matter to the two of you, but the conversation falls flat.
Now there are some people so dear to you and close in spirit that you can pick up where you left off after years as if it were days, but those people are very rare.
So I remind myself, as I remind you, water your friendships with attention and they will keep blooming.
Now, excuse me, I have to go call an old friend.