Missing....

I am really feeling down lately. I think I'm lonely?

The time is looming that yet another incredibly important family in my life will be moving away from me, so that's bumming me out. The Jamies will be in Austria for a year, starting in early May. This time, I know they're coming back eventually, but that's not making it much easier for me. Jamie is a very stabilizing friend to me. Even though they are the busiest family I know - busy with very important things and very important people, busy with teaching classes and putting on concerts - she always makes me feel like a quiet evening or afternoon chatting with her in front of the fire is the most important thing in the world to her. I don't ever feel like I'm an afterthought or am being "fit in," which I imagine is hard to do! She is always has time for *me*, is always interested in what I have to say, and she listens. Those qualities, while sounding simple, are not that easy to find in people - not at all. So I'm really going to miss her. A lot.

I'm missing friend K up in Wisconsin an extra lot lately too. Don't know if you've been keeping up with this blog or not, K, but I'm thinking about you and all the *stuff* you're going through a lot. I wish I was up there to help out. That's another thing about having friends move away. You're really limited on what you can do for them, and I hate that. It's hard to find the give/take balance with someone when you're long distance. I need to feel like I can give to my friends, as much as I feel I take from them. It's like being cut off at the knees when you see a need and you aren't able to do anything of substance.

Speaking of long-distance friends, I'm also missing Mare, who's off hanging out with Barack Obama. I did put in a cell call to her right when I though she might be meeting him in an attempt to be there too. It didn't quite work, but almost did. We still laugh together a lot, but it's a little more fun when we're in the same room. Plus, virtual bitch-walks are not the same as real ones.

I'm indulging myself here, I know. I have very little to complain about. I'm just feeling very melancholy and am using my blog as my therapy. Good friends are hard to find and I've been hugely lucky in that department. My complaints that so many of them live further than a quick car-ride away is certainly not worth a whole blog post. But there you are.