A comforting space

"It goes beyond just keeping in touch; as many people assert – you don’t have to talk with friends every day in order to remain close. However, there is something intensely special about being involved with good friends on a daily basis. The feeling that you not only know what is going on but actually play a role in each others lives is rewarding. There are times when I get a bit depressed thinking about all of the ‘shit-shooting’ that I miss out on with my friends when I’m not at home.

I know it must sound odd, but I guess it’s fair to say that I sometimes miss the mundane details of my friends’ lives. Even with the help of technology making communications incredibly inexpensive, unavoidable things like time differences and vastly different living environments make picking up the phone and talking about how good lunch was, or the strange characteristic of quick-dry shirts smelling pretty nasty after being wet (they do, don’t they?), rather difficult.

The nice thing about the emails I received today was that they covered not only the “here’s what’s been going on in my life for the past few months” but also more random “slice of life” things; food, fears, gripes about coffee. Moreover, when reading the emails, I could hear my friends’ voices, their inflections, their expressions, and their mood. They were almost like a stream of consciousness, where for a brief moment, I was hanging out with my friends again in a comfortable and comforting space."

http://www.backpackinginasuit.com/2010/05/having-good-day.html