keeping in touch with friends

Wow, it's been over two weeks since I last blogged. Part of the reason is probably because I was sick and the other part is that I've actually been having a bit of a life lately.

Last weekend was jam-packed. I hung out with some ex-Ducati friends on Friday, went to SF for dinner Saturday, and then went back to SF for lunch on Sunday. All three events were opportunities to catch up with friends, which is important because I consciously set a goal to try to be better about keeping touch with people this year. But what I came to realize is that keeping in touch doesn't always have to mean hanging out in person. With everyone's busy lives it's often hard to find time to get together...just ask our friends Nate and Tracy who we've had to postpone plans over a month with!

I have one friend, who lives in Portland, that calls me every two or three weeks. He doesn't want anything, doesn't need help with anything, and he's too far away for us to get together for dinner. But you know what? I appreciate that he goes out of his way to keep in touch. All this time, I don't know if I've ever called him. But he's totally kept our relationship alive because he calls me just to chat. We usually talk for 15 or 30 minutes about topics ranging from work, vacations, or nerdy techie stuff. It's nice.

I've come to appreciate this because I know how horrible I am about keeping in touch with people. Sure I'll send an email, or comment on someone's Facebook status but is that the same thing? And if you're not in the habit of talking to someone by phone regularly, is it weird to start calling them out of the blue? I guess I'll just have to find out. Hopefully, I can be more like my friend in Portland and do my part to keep in touch with people.

(Note: this topic also has me wondering about the definition of "friend." The term seems to be used pretty loosely now. I have 407 "friends" on Facebook. My Gmail address book has 584 contacts. Do I plan to call all these people every two weeks? Probably not, sorry.)