Sunken Friend Ship

Have you ever lost track of a friend? My guess is that most people have. Some of the best friends I've ever had -- or so I thought at the time -- have simply disappeared beneath the sea of passing time.

I didn't try to lose them. We didn't have any falling out that I was party to, most of them. One day I got up and decided we hadn't connected in a while and they just weren't there anymore -- phone disconnected, mail returned to sender, email bounced back undeliverable. Was it me? Did I do something?

I'm not so paranoid as to think they went into witness protection just to avoid me. I would rather fault the currents of life that swept us in different directions until we became lost in our own worlds. John Lennon said that, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

We're all leading our own lives -- jobs, mortgages, kids, finances.... It can be all too easy to let slip away the people you once thought you would never be without. I can count on the fingers of one hand the friends I still keep from high school. There used to be more -- a lot more.

I'm reminded of a quote from Tequila Sunrise, written by Robert Towne: "I don't know what it is about going to high school with someone that automatically makes you feel like you're friends for life. Who says? Who says friendship lasts forever? We'd all like it to, maybe. But maybe it just wears out like anything else -- like tires. There just so much mileage in them and then you're riding around on nothing but air."

I'm sure that's true sometimes, but I believe the ones who are supposed to be in my life find their way back -- or me to them. I sleep better at night trusting that it works that way.