How long will that last?

I'm remarkably bad at actively staying in touch with my friends, as basically everyone who reads this thing can attest. I don't know why that is exactly. I think a chunk of it is laziness or lethargy. Some of it is forgetfulness, distraction, and an insensibility to the warp-speed passage of time. A bit is also my introversion and insecurity, which is ridiculous I know, but true nonetheless. As much as I love and enjoy my friends, I'm no great lover of the phone or the thought of social settings, and while the actual call or night out is usually quite enjoyable, working up to it requires clambering over some deep inner obstacle that has always been there.

In any case, I just had a lovely evening with a couple old friends, one of whom I haven't seen in far too long, despite her regular visits to the City for work. My buddy Jeff has been crashing at my place for a week every month in his commute to work from Spokane, and his former roommate Colleen happened to have the night off from her job, so we all went out for drinks and dinner at the little Italian Trattoria up the street.

I won't bother going into all the history and crazy stories the three of us could tell -- many of which we retold ourselves over wine and tortellini. But it highlighted the importance of friendships, especially in the absence of family -- that crazy bond born of shared experience, be it good or bad, so rich and necessary. I'm vowing to make an effort to improve my friendship maintenance, lest my emotional well-being completely yellow, wither, curl and die like the neglected plant in the dark corner.