Amigos

It occurred to me today as I stood in a [Roberts] friend's kitchen that I need to work on my social life. I was rolling out pie crust and we were all just talking, and I realized that I don't often have friendly conversation. Work is so.... eh, I don't know. It's a busy, hectic environment, and while we do make time for fast-paced small talk, it is usually choppy, sarcastic, or although sincere, brief. I rarely chat with people from work. Most of my conversations are based on need, and as a result, aren't all that relaxed. I have friends with whom I play volleyball; these conversations are either poking fun at each other for blowing a perfect set or are kept fairly shallow so as to prevent length (which would delay the game). I used to have a study group when I was in school, and I often chatted with those friends. But the tension of a great need to study was always close by. And although I am sure there are countless people at church who would make wonderful friends, I don't seem to have any desire to push past the pre- or post-service chatter.

So, I ponder, do I really have any friends anymore?

Sad! I think I'd rather not answer. My friendships from college were developed at a time in my life when socialization happened without effort. We had late night solve-the-world's-problems talks, political discussions in the dining hall, what-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life chats, laughs on the track bus, talks on long runs, talk cry talk laugh talk... we never really wanted for a chance to connect. In a world where relationships are built by intention, we fell into each other's lives and stayed close without much work.

What a blessed time of life that was. And oh, how we all took it for granted!