Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Finding time for everything

The reality is, our lives change! We choose to fall in love, have kids, and go about the chaos of what that all includes. It is not hard to keep your friendships as you can be in touch via phone, e-mail and maybe an occasional drop by visit. My friendships are very near and dear to me. My best friends have gotten me through many rough times - my Dad's death, having children, pregnancy, marital frustration and many, many other things that are not appropriate for this blog. But, I always miss them! Truthfully, I don't have much time for anything but a job, my kids and my husband. Anything else that I do seems to sacrifice these things. Don't get me wrong, I love an occasional outing with a friend for a glass of wine or a little shopping spree but it take what seems like days or even weeks of planning to do these things.

My best friends (from high school) and I started a tradition of going on a trip every year. We have tried to enjoy some fun areas - Chicago, Phoenix, Galveston, Las Vegas and last year we did Columbus (I was ready to pop and couldn't travel far). It has not always been easy coming up with dates, locations, finances, and coverage for children. Many who have had more flexibility have made sacrifices for those of us with kids and hard work schedules. Well, after some discussion via e-mail yesterday, we have come to the conclusion that we will not be taking a Fab 5 trip this year. Kristin and Meredith are prego, Jamie has a 3 mth old and two other kids, I would love to get away but as always have schedule complications and low funds and Tara is free as a bee! So, it will not work to bring us all together. For a while we all lived in different states -AZ, KY, CA, GA and MI. Not that all are back in MI except Mere (CA), it is not easier. We have entered the Mommy stage!

My point is not that I am mad, I am just disappointed. I completely understand that we will go through some hard years trying to make this work until we are all rich, have the kiddos shipped off to college, and take very lavish vacations. The thing is, I enjoy these people so much and our yearly outings are a form of therapy whether we realize that we need it or not. We laugher harder than ever, typically drink a significant amount, cry over the simplest things, and just realize that we have all changed and gone our different directions but ultimately, this is the real deal. This is a friendship that many will not experience in this lifetime!

I could blab on and on about these gals because they truly are the bomb! In the meantime, I will just appreciate any opportunities that we have together.

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