Friends who stay

Thanksgiving past (2006)

I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. You can read more about it on San’s blog the in between is mine. #nablopomo2022

Today on Thanksgiving day 2022 I am being thankful for friends who stay. As I said before we are spending our Thanksgiving with friend in Las Vegas. Since we don’t have any family living in the US I am grateful that we have them around to spend time with on this holiday. The other day we were looking at a picture from our first Thanksgiving 17 years spend also with them.

We did have family visiting before and I had the pleasure of making a Thanksgiving dinner for my parents-in-law. Especially my father-in-law was very appreciative of the big bird.

But back to the ‘friends who stay’ topic. After 17 years in a country far away from my home country I am very thankful for friend who stick with you throughout the years no matter if you are far away or see them ones a year or every other. It’s not easy and the longer we are away the harder it gets I feel. I do have a handful I get in touch with every time we visit Germany and I will check in every now and then. I appreciate it so much that they still show as much interest in my life as I do in theirs. We left at a time when everything was in flux. Everyone moved around to their ‘forever’ jobs to different cities, they got married, started families – even if you still live in the same country things and friendships change, I know that. When we first moved we had a lot of visitors but now after 17 years it’s mostly family who will make the trip out what I completely understand. It’s an expensive visit to make especially if the family is growing.

The friendships that ended did not end because we had misunderstandings or were fighting they just fizzled out overtime.

There have been new friends along the way, too. Some were made having kids the same age and I already know that at least one will stay with me for sure. Sometimes you just know. Some of them were made at work but since both my husband and I work in research it’s hard to keep them alive since we only have time 3-4 years to build something up before they move on to new positions and new cities or countries.

It probably also has something to do with the time you have available to build a lasting connection.

So here is to friends who stay without questions, over a distance who accept you for who you are, who will ask you ‘how are you?’ and mean it, who will also reach out to you as you do to them. If you are reading this, you know who you are.

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