Friends...

Its funny how different groups of friends can represent different parts of ones life. You meet so many people over the course of your life and people inevitable go their separate ways and lead their separate lives. Each existing in their own worlds apart from the ones they used to know. I see these groups of people in time periods, each existing in another life that was part of my past. I look at my life that way. As a series of past lives or chapters if you will, that dont necessarily connect with each other. Yet these people have all influenced my life dramatically and have shaped who I am today. How many chapters or lives have I led? And how are all of these people that I call friends so different from each other? I try to picture all of the people Ive ever known put together in one room and I have to laugh, it would be like a bowl of Skittles mixed with M&Ms. A bizarre combo that may look interesting but you might want to separate them before sampling. Everyone in your life teaches you something to carry with you in your next life. And life does go in a circle. My friends are proof of this. Connecting with long lost friends has been amazing, high school friends remind us of how stupid we really were and they allow us to see how far weve come. Collage friends remind us that we used to have a brain and how we used to want to explore new ideas with vigor. Adult friends, who complain about the price of gas, bills, and bosses, give us our sense of purpose in life and remind us of things we would rather be doing with our lives. I used to say when I was younger that I am the sum of all my friends. I never understood what I was saying, but now Im beginning to realize just how true that statement is, and I am thankful to have had so many different kinds of people influence my life.