Catching Up

I know. I know. I haven't been posting. My life has just been rather ... intense, as of late. I've been changing cell phones and, consequently, updating everyone in my address book on my new number. I've been fretting over some of my friends and enjoying as much time as possible with them. I've been attempting to plan a trip for next month to Scottsdale, Arizona and the Grand Canyon, and I believe I have finally located at least one other person to accompany me to Europe. Somewhere in the midst of all of this, I've been spending time with my little brother, continuing to learn salsa, and working. You remember, I have a job.

I know, it's really no excuse for not writing. However, I really have been writing. It's just everything I have had to say as of late has belonged in my private journal, password protected and hidden away. The thoughts swirling through my head are simply not for public consumption. So instead, I will now attempt to talk about some random topic that's been kicking around in my head for over a week now with no real direction.

It has recently become apparent to me that I do not update my friendship designations very frequently. For example, if I form a best friend at one point in my life, in my mind, they remain my best friend indefinitely, unless and until they at some point cease to be my friend at all. Some have suggested that this causes immense confusion, as I always seem to have ten best friends at any given moment, which seems a little ludicrous. Even I don't think I have the time that would need to be invested in that many close relationships. I think part of the "problem" is that I tend to form very close and intimate relationships with people in my life. I end up knowing a couple hundred, but become close to just a few. The few that I remain close to are always very special.

The people I consider my best friends are still there for me whenever I need them. I have few friends that won't call me back the same day. Even the ones that live in foreign countries and are sometimes in isolated areas, lacking such luxuries as running water, will usually get back to me within a week. I think that commitment is part of what makes us all friends - we are all fully committed to the friendship and will always be there whenever the other one needs something. However, there is no denying that over time, mostly as a result of people scattering to different regions of the globe, I have grown apart from some of my closest friends. We no longer get to speak every day, or even every month. However, I know if I am ever in need they will be there, and we all try to keep up on one another's lives as much as possible.

How does one classify people like that? I can't just call them "friends" because I have many "friends" that I could never count on that way. Perhaps I need to invent a new classification system. Adding such designations as "close friend" and "acquaintance", but then I'll just be confusing myself, and potentially everyone else. Every day I would need to remind myself of what I had classified this certain person as the week before. Perhaps one should just classify such people as "true friends".

"People say that friends hold hands, but true friends don't need to, because they know that the other hand is always there."