BFF

This morning, I had the opportunity to reflect upon my community of family and friends. Thanks be to God, I am blessed with more than my share.

However, I was not reflecting upon the abundance, but the proximity of how far we live from each other.

My family, aside from my daughter, lives in Florida, Texas, New York, and New Hampshire, not exactly around the corner from Delaware.

My close friends from high school and college all live in the northeast, southeast or California. Again, not exactly a quick trip by car. The train does open up a few possibilities.

The friends that I made when younger are in Florida, Tennessee, California.

I have never experienced growing up and older with the people that I met in kindergarten. I do not know what it is like to run into one of them on the street and see what they were up to yesterday. My conversations would start with asking what they did the past year.

Sure, emails and blogs and pictures allow us to keep in touch, however, it is not the same thing as touching.

In Sudan, the connection between family and friends was present in everything going on. And, families are large. Lots of cousins, aunts and uncles.

Of course, touching is a little difficult in a society that thinks an awful lot about sex and touching or looking, while trying not to think about sex, touching or looking.

The passing of the Peace in church is a little challenging to the Westerner who loves to hug.

So, what are my options?

Join the ranks of women over fifty that bear children? Not.

Give up my house and become a dorm mother? Not.

Search eharmony for someone with time and money to support a lifestyle of travel?


Now, that has opportunity written all over it.