Staying Close

I just need to bitch about the discomfort of wearing a bra during this pregnancy one more time. Bitch, bitch, bitch. Ok that was three times. Whatever. Don't try to recommend a good bra to me - I've tried several. It's all bad and I'm just gonna have to suffer until the baby is out and then switch to complaining about being engorged all the time. God, I really hate the word, "engorged". They need to come up with another word to describe what happens when one's boobs fill up with so much milk that they become big enough for one to rest one's own chin on. Ok, enough of that. Tonight I went out with a good friend to shop for some clothes for her birthday. This is someone who I have been friends with for 28 years, and it is quite ritual to buy each other gifts this way. I think the evening out together is more important than the actual gift-buying, but it does give us the excuse to get together. We shouldn't need an excuse, but with family and career taking up almost all of her time, we don't get together nearly as much as we should. Not that I don't have a family taking up my time, but I'm not nearly as busy as she is. We had some good conversations tonight, and I would have to say that it has probably been at least six months since the last time we had a chance to talk about something other than kids, or her latest discovery in the world of health foods. I was actually feeling bad about my lack of "real" communication with this friend when I contemplated our relationship earlier this year. I never thought of my friendships as things that need work, but clearly, I was wrong. Friends come and go in a person's life, but with someone I’ve known since grade one, it is not acceptable for me to shrug and wonder if we have anything in common anymore. Tonight I discovered that we still have a lot to talk about, but without making an effort to have an occasional night out, we seem to lose site of our true friendship, and just go through the motions of being friends without any meaningfulness. So, as we do every time, we vowed to get together more often, although we typically never follow through. I think this time I will make sure we stick to our vow, as I now realize how imperative it is to make sure we don’t lose ourselves in the craziness of everyday life. Friendships like this don’t come around too often, so if it requires a bit of effort, so be it. It's worth it. (even if this friend never reads my blog!)