Taking A Moment

I've become a bit homesick lately and have been thinking a lot of my friends back in the states.  They got together as a group to see the movie The Avengers a few weeks ago.  This weekend there is a wedding and then they're planning a Memorial Day party.  I miss being a part of making plans to get together and enjoy the day and share some drink, some food, and some laughs. 


I remember on a visit back home in 2007 when I announced my decision that I would be staying in Ireland how we hugged and cried and promised that no distance could come between us and we would always be friends. While I have stayed in touch with several, there are an equal number I have lost touch with over the last six years. 


As I began this journey I met my flat mate and my best friend Hamish who became like brothers to me. But now my flat mate is married with a child and we only see each other when we run into one another in the street or at a shop. Hamish moved to Scotland and while we talk on the phone, those phone calls, like the ones with my friends back in the states, are getting fewer and farther apart as we're both busy living our lives. 


I still can't believe its been six years already. The older we get the more time just seems to fly by. Back when I made the decision to stay in Ireland, I was thinking it would be for a year, have some fun and have an experience I'll always remember. I never dreamed someone like Gareth would come into my life and change everything. 


I was always a hopeless romantic. Actually that seems to run in my family, but for awhile there I was more hopeless than a romantic. Love just wasn't working out for me. A few times in my life I thought I had found the one, but in the end I think I loved each of them more than they ever loved me. Still, while I could have done without the broken hearts, I wouldn't change anything. Each experience made me the person I am today and I cherish the times I spent with each one. I think of them often and wonder what they're doing and if perhaps they ever stop to remember me. If they do, I hope they remember me with a smile at a memory of a fun moment we shared. 


So I've decided to make a better effort to keep in touch with the ones I love.  Life is too short, time goes by too fast, but not so fast that we can't find the time to share a moment of ourselves and let those we care about know were not only thinking of them, but that we love them.