Distance makes the heart grow stronger...

My best friend in highschool (yes, back then you had "best friends") was a year younger than I was and dated a boy that was a year older than I was. This meant that after he graduated she had 2 years of school left. He went away to school. Far away. Like he only came home when the school break was over a week long, ya know?! (Sorry about that, go back and read that last sentence with a valley girl tone, flipping your long ponytail as you say it.) Anyway, I distinctly remember a conversation I had with him as we were discussing the long-distance relationship. Some wise old man looked adoringly at his wife across the room and said, "distance makes the heart grow stronger". Her boyfriend smirked and sarcastically said, "yeah, distance makes the heart stray." Whatever! They got married as soon as she graduated, had 4 kids, have moved all over the midwest and are still together.

There is also that saying that goes something like, "you don't miss it until it's gone". Of course, this really hits home when talking about people. I haven't had a "best friend" since the above mentioned high school friend. Instead, I have many friends that I tend to share different things with according to our interests, point of view, frame of mind, and situations in life. I think we all go through phases when we know EXACTLY how someone feels. Seriously, "I know how you feel" is a true statement in the sense that we can sympathize and feel the pain of our dear friend and their situation. We would walk a mile in their shoes if only it would help them. Sometimes we try to help, other times they do better by learning on their own, and still other times we vent.

And then there are vacations. Brief interludes in our lives that we all look forward to and enjoy. But what about the people left at home?! Yikes! Did we think about them at all?

Next year we all plan our vacations at the same time. It's been like a month, ya know, and like I can't take it any more.