sing . song . sung

The one thing I promised myself when I was laid-off from my stereotypically dot.com-era startup in 2003 was that I would never again make the mistake of populating my friendship circle exclusively with work peeps. I wouldn't say I made that mistake again, exactly, rather that it was unavoidable. With the hours I worked, and the unpredictability of my schedule, work peeps were the only people who understood, respected, and were willing to flex around my work schedule.

And now, I am revisiting some of the friendship-based heartache of 2003. On a logical level, I can be dispassionate about it: we all have lives, and priorities, etc. Not hearing from someone with whom you were once on a daily/hourly contact basis is just what happens when you're not in physical proximity anymore. But, emotionally, "out of sight, out of mind" stings.

I have wonderful, wonderful people in my life. And yet, I'm mourning my losses a little. I don't blame anyone, not even myself, for once. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to continually replace people in the circle as we outgrow our friendship, move, settle down, etc. So much effort. It's the friendship equivalent of kissing a lot of frogs. Realistically, that's probably how it is for a lot of people, but right now it smarts. I feel like I'm revisiting lessons and ideas I thought I had learned.