Dear Friends

One thing the Internet has done is allow people who live at a distance to stay in touch.  Someone recently commented that all her 'best' friends lived far away, some of whom she hadn't actually met in real life.   And to her that was a happy/sad realization.  

When I read that comment I realized that in many cases that is true for me, too, although I am blessed with many friends that live near enough to me that I have met them.  Some of them live in my town, but we also stay in touch via emails, Facebook as well as in person.  

Now that I have cut back on teaching, I am not meeting nearly as many people, so if I am going to see my distant dear ones, I need to still travel.   Travel that is purely for pleasure is so much less stressful, though.  Miss a flight?  Not a big deal.  Friends will understand.  Not like a room full of people who have paid money for you to show up, maybe booked time off work to take a workshop.  

So we have been planning some trips, just for the pure enjoyment of getting together with dear friends.  

In the meantime it warms the cockles of my heart when a remembrance gift arrives in the mail as happened today.   With winter coming these socks will keep me warm in more than a physical sense, but also in an emotional one.  Knowing that a dear friend thought enough of me to send these uplifting socks. :). In a cute bag, too.