Gatecrashing

If you’ve followed my life along, something you must be aware of is how much I struggle to describe and introduce people to each other. I’m not the greatest at explaining how I know someone – especially when they’re family friends, or people I know through other individuals, and quite often I’ll struggle through variants of introductions before finally just saying their name. My social circle is a big web which strictly affirms the principle behind the six degrees of separation, and that interweaving makes introductions all the more difficult.

I wrote this introductory paragraph after thinking about how to explain a family friendship to you folks; before deciding to skip past explaining the relationship.

Last evening, I had the good fortune of catching up with family friends over dinner. The circumstances of the meeting were extremely amusing to me – they were in town for a wedding, so I was hopeful of meeting them after their festivities were done. Instead, I was invited to join in, getting a free meal and my first experience of attending a function where I know nobody – barring my family friends. It was fabulous. To me, it affirmed how much time and energy goes into trying to figure out where to meet people – and in making plans, rather than concentrating on the prime reason to meet someone – just the act of meeting them and wanting to catch up.

Relationships like these demand preservation. Not through photographs, blog posts, or memories. Just through the act of being present when presence is possible.