self-realization of the day...

... at 8 in the morning. hmmmm.

i've been thinking about it and i realized that, after you leave high school, life just kinda naturally sorts your friends into two piles. there are those, right when you see them as you come back, that you realize have changed so much, and you have changed so much, that your relationship just fades away until all that's there is a shadow, a hint of something that used to be there.

then there are those who, although you don't talk very much or hardly at all while you're gone, you come back and it's like you never left for a year. all it takes is some small talk, some catching up, because you're still on their wavelength, even though you've both changed and become different people.

i don't mean to project one of these options as bad and one as good. both just kind of happen at the discretion of some greater power. it's quite possible that you can no longer relate to the people in the first group because you've learned what you needed to learn from that person and in order for them to touch the lives of other people they have to change and you have to change. on the other hand, those in the latter group are perhaps those whom God's not quite done touching your life with yet. you're not done learning and growing as a result of this person.

the one thing you can be sure of in all of this is that people belonging in either group never really leave you. to quote an extremely lame cliche, they all leave footprints in the sands of your heart... even the memory of those in the first group never really fades because they too made you a small part of who you are.

so when you look back on everyone you were friends with in high school, don't freak out over all the friendships you've lost touch with... don't worry that nobody will like who you've become... just smile, and thank God for every person He had the grace to bring into your life, and take comfort in the fact that, as we age, are hearts are shaped by every friend we make.

*group hug*