Many years ago (probably about 8ish), I remember telling some friends why we were upset with them... (we should know better, but we don't).
They were new to Canada and when they moved here, we opened up our home to them, including my family parties... we invited them to some family functions (including Christmas) and just tried to make them feel welcome here in Canada. It went great for about a year or so... we would see them often, they would come to our place to visit, and we would go to their place and visit... but soon it slowed down. They became the popular people in the church and preferred to spend time with the movers and shakers of our church. It wasn't long before they were too busy to do stuff with us anymore... and our friendship dwindled.
One day I decided to let them know why we were leaving the church and why we weren't friends with them anymore... and the response to that was...are you ready for this... even though they only see some people once a year, they still consider them great friends. I was floored and honestly, totally stunned. How could I respond to that? I didn't and just left it at that.
Why do I bring this up? Well, it has happened to us again... we have a friend that never calls us, and now has informed us that he considers Doug his good friend... I am totally at a loss about this whole concept. How does one have a great friendship if you never get together? I totally understand being a friend with people long distance... but best friends? Not sure how that is possible. We have some good friends spread through out the US and we truly appreciate who they are and what they mean to us, but they can't be there when we need a shoulder to cry on and when we just need some company in the evening. To me that is where the best of friendships happen... the face to face of everyday of life.
I guess because we don't have kids, or go to church, our life isn't totally occupied by other things, and so a close friendship is important. For us, if distance is an issue, then that is a decent excuse for not phoning to visit, but what is the excuse if you live near by? So, the assumption is that if someone doesn't ever call, then doesn't that mean they don't want to do stuff with us? To me that seems pretty straight forward and honestly, I am ok with that. Good grief, I don't expect people to like us, and if they don't want to do stuff with us, then that is their choice. My issues is if they don't do stuff with us, but still call us friends.
Doug and I are ok with our life. I would prefer to live it in California though... if we are going to be alone, then I would like to be alone in nice weather and surrounded by crazy people just like us. Now this post is not directed to anyone on my facebook friends list, so don't think I am posting this about you. My parents have been our best friends and have been there through our ups and downs. My friend Conny comes out to visit me in White Rock at any given time that I ask... something tells me she gets as lonely as we do. Our friends Kraeg and Anna are just plain busy with starting a new business (but they better start pulling up their friendship boot straps soon HA HA HA... breaky soon???).
Sometimes I wonder what we are supposed to do in this life. I posted a song by Mercy Me on facebook awhile ago called "This Life". It describes our thought process and I think it encourages us on how to live. We aren't going to fit into this world, but we can still Shine... we were meant to shine for God. He created us for a reason, and sitting back and letting the world pass us by is not an option, so we will keep our mind open to all that he wants us to do. We have no idea how that will look, or where it will take us in this life, but I think we are open to all possibilities.
We still feel unsettled here, but something tells me that is just how we are supposed to feel. Keeps us from getting too comfortable I guess (i will just keep saying that to myself). For now we will enjoy living only an hour from my parents so we can visit just about every week. Maybe some day we will live a 2 1/2 hour flight away instead. For now we will enjoy living in the beautiful seaside town of White Rock driving our Mustang Convertible with Mickey Mouse in the back seat. We will enjoy our new pet Minnie and we will take whatever vacation we can grab a hold of. God has been good, and I will never complain about what we have... we are forever grateful for our life no matter how it looks.
So if you see a blondie and a red head walking hand and hand (well... side by side) on the beach, know that we are living the life the best we can and we are happy doing it together with God happily protecting us from all sides.
They were new to Canada and when they moved here, we opened up our home to them, including my family parties... we invited them to some family functions (including Christmas) and just tried to make them feel welcome here in Canada. It went great for about a year or so... we would see them often, they would come to our place to visit, and we would go to their place and visit... but soon it slowed down. They became the popular people in the church and preferred to spend time with the movers and shakers of our church. It wasn't long before they were too busy to do stuff with us anymore... and our friendship dwindled.
One day I decided to let them know why we were leaving the church and why we weren't friends with them anymore... and the response to that was...are you ready for this... even though they only see some people once a year, they still consider them great friends. I was floored and honestly, totally stunned. How could I respond to that? I didn't and just left it at that.
Why do I bring this up? Well, it has happened to us again... we have a friend that never calls us, and now has informed us that he considers Doug his good friend... I am totally at a loss about this whole concept. How does one have a great friendship if you never get together? I totally understand being a friend with people long distance... but best friends? Not sure how that is possible. We have some good friends spread through out the US and we truly appreciate who they are and what they mean to us, but they can't be there when we need a shoulder to cry on and when we just need some company in the evening. To me that is where the best of friendships happen... the face to face of everyday of life.
I guess because we don't have kids, or go to church, our life isn't totally occupied by other things, and so a close friendship is important. For us, if distance is an issue, then that is a decent excuse for not phoning to visit, but what is the excuse if you live near by? So, the assumption is that if someone doesn't ever call, then doesn't that mean they don't want to do stuff with us? To me that seems pretty straight forward and honestly, I am ok with that. Good grief, I don't expect people to like us, and if they don't want to do stuff with us, then that is their choice. My issues is if they don't do stuff with us, but still call us friends.
Doug and I are ok with our life. I would prefer to live it in California though... if we are going to be alone, then I would like to be alone in nice weather and surrounded by crazy people just like us. Now this post is not directed to anyone on my facebook friends list, so don't think I am posting this about you. My parents have been our best friends and have been there through our ups and downs. My friend Conny comes out to visit me in White Rock at any given time that I ask... something tells me she gets as lonely as we do. Our friends Kraeg and Anna are just plain busy with starting a new business (but they better start pulling up their friendship boot straps soon HA HA HA... breaky soon???).
Sometimes I wonder what we are supposed to do in this life. I posted a song by Mercy Me on facebook awhile ago called "This Life". It describes our thought process and I think it encourages us on how to live. We aren't going to fit into this world, but we can still Shine... we were meant to shine for God. He created us for a reason, and sitting back and letting the world pass us by is not an option, so we will keep our mind open to all that he wants us to do. We have no idea how that will look, or where it will take us in this life, but I think we are open to all possibilities.
We still feel unsettled here, but something tells me that is just how we are supposed to feel. Keeps us from getting too comfortable I guess (i will just keep saying that to myself). For now we will enjoy living only an hour from my parents so we can visit just about every week. Maybe some day we will live a 2 1/2 hour flight away instead. For now we will enjoy living in the beautiful seaside town of White Rock driving our Mustang Convertible with Mickey Mouse in the back seat. We will enjoy our new pet Minnie and we will take whatever vacation we can grab a hold of. God has been good, and I will never complain about what we have... we are forever grateful for our life no matter how it looks.
So if you see a blondie and a red head walking hand and hand (well... side by side) on the beach, know that we are living the life the best we can and we are happy doing it together with God happily protecting us from all sides.
yup ... i hear ya