Keeping In Touch

I've been trying to get some 'pre-spring cleaning' done for a few days now!  I'm not as far as I hoped to be...everytime I attempt to do a 'small' clean it turns into an 'everything' clean!

Today I went through my paper bin under my bed to find any papers I no longer need.  I ended up finding some really old scrapbook pages I made when I was 12!  Seeing them brought back a lot of memories of the time my family went to Fairmont BC with my good friend and her family shortly after we moved away from Calgary!  I also found a page where that same friend, Karissa, had come over for a sleepover on my 12th birthday.  The scrapbooking element of the pages is terrible, but the memories they bring are incredible! 

Seeing those pages made me think (even more so than I had been already) about the phrase "keeping in touch."  With my friend Kim in NY, and Karissa so heavily on my mind this past month and a bit, and every other person I've ever known floating around my mind lately I've found it hard not to think about it. 

Keeping in touch with someone is much easier said than done.  I find when it comes to keeping in touch there's a fine line that must be walked upon.  I never know how much "keeping in touch" is good.  I'm always scared of keeping in touch too much that the other person can't go on with their life, but then I pull away and then I think I shouldn't keep in touch very often...though those close to me are never far from my thoughts or prayers.  Then, time buts in and before I know it years have gone by and distance has been formed between me and those close to me...  I find keeping in touch very...what's the word...not frustrating in a bad sense, but in the sense of not knowing how to properly keep in touch. 

Keeping in touch is hard.  Maybe I need to try harder, or try less.  I haven't quite decided yet.  All I know is I'm tired of the distance that forms when physical distance happens in a relationship.  I know God knows what will be of all my friendships. 

A while ago I got an email that talked about how people are in your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.  Ultimately only God knows what He has planned for each relationship.  One conclusion I have come to though is that no matter if it is a season (short or long), a reason, or for life, each person has a special place in anothers life.  For example, my friendship with Karissa...no matter the outcome of what's going on right now, I was in her life.  Nobody can ever take that away, or deny it.  There was something she needed that only I could give, and vice versa.  Same with Kim...no matter what the future holds for our friendship...whether she lives far away, or moves back to SK at the end of her time in NY...there is something(s) only she can bring to my life, and again vice versa.  The same goes with everyone I know and everyone you know.  Nobody can ever deny that someone who was in your life had a role to play in shaping you into who you are.  No matter if that person was there for a reason, a season, or for life!