far and wide

i had a brief text conversation with a good buddy of mine the other night, one of my very favorite people. we were chatting back and forth, and he said, [the place he lives, where i used to live too] is more challenging without you. boy, oh boy, do i know that feeling.

see, when you're moderately itinerant, as i've been in my post-teenage life, you pick up friends wherever you go. college friends? they're all over the country. law-school friends? they're somewhere i'm not. everywhere i've lived, i've gained myself amazing friends. and though quite a few of them are here, quite a few more are not. and that's not even including all of you fine folks out here in blog-land, scattered far and wide across the country.

i used to have a recurring dream when i was younger. it took place at my old high school, under the giant oak trees dripping with spanish moss. we were having a barbecue, and it was a perfect reunion of all my friends from every stage of life. i used to wake up from that dream vaguely depressed, because i know it's just not possible. but what if, for just one day, i could have everyone i love in one place? maybe the beach, maybe the mountains. food, drinks, nice weather? man.

life is challenging without friends. i have a nice clutch of them around, and that helps. but sometimes, the person you want more than anyone else is thousands of miles and a time zone or two away. that sucks. but that's life in the twenty-first century, i guess. i just wish i could have a drink with my nearest and dearest more than once a year. or longer. sigh...