Friends and their Roots

Okay, so this entry isn't really about photography...

Above is an iPhone picture of a piece of a dead tree that was still being held by stakes and not even in the ground. I took this while I was out on a walk with Julia yesterday.

Julia and I had a long conversation during our walk. It's rare that her and I ever get to talk at length about anything, so I really enjoyed our time together.  

As an 11 year old, she feels the need to plan out a good portion of her life now. She and her best friend are planning on going to veterinary school together and apparently they know they are going to be "best friends for life."  My job as Dad is just to smile and say "That's great!" She also mentioned another girl, also named Julia, that used to live down the street from us and how they used to be best friends until she moved away. I talked to her about how hard it is for some people to stay in touch after they move away...people get older and change, they meet new people, they become interested in new things...etc. Julia wondered if the other Julia ever thought about her or even remembers her.

We do live in the age of email, but, obviously, not all young kids know how to use email or are even allowed to use it. But for us adults, really there's no excuse for not staying in touch with people who mean something to you, assuming the friendship is mutual.

I told Julia about a good friend of mine named Craig who moved away when I was about her age. We kept in touch by actually writing letters for several years (this is WAAY before email). By the time we were around 14, I guess we both had moved on with our lives and the letters stopped. I never forgot about Craig. I tried looking him up on-line years later but never had any success. Then a couple of months ago guess who I got an email from...30 years after we had last been in contact. Turns out he's into photography, too. Pretty funny.

So I told Julia that it's very possible that sometime in the future, perhaps even 30 years from now, she might hear from the other Julia, but don't expect that from everyone. I've had more good friends than I can count just drop off the face of the planet. I'm talking about close friends, not just casual acquaintances. The best man at my wedding, by best friend when I lived in Greensboro, NC...lots of people in the last 20 years.

But as far as my childhood friends go, from High School and earlier, I'm actually in touch with ALL of them. Craig was the last one on the list.  

 My final advice to Julia...if a friendship is meaningful enough you'll both find a way to stay in touch years from now. Also stay away from boys.