2014
i just got your message
maura @ 7:13 pm
Wow, October, where’d you go? Busy is an understatement for me right now — with the (big!) job + high school process + basic person/family/home/cats maintenance I don’t really have any cycles to spare, as the cyberfolks say. Unfortunately the cats show no interest in maintaining themselves, lazy gits. I’ve let not one but two ebooks expire from my phone, because I haven’t had time to read them. The RSS feeds are clogged + unwieldy, the New Yorkers stacked high. And don’t even ask me about the paper paper.
When it gets this busy it’s easy to collapse everything down to actual and perceived necessities like sleep + food + finishing all the stuff on the to do list, and to let other things drift out to the edges. But that’s not always a good plan, because as much as sleep is very necessary so are other things. Things that shouldn’t be left to the edges, because they too are good for you.
In the past week I’ve hung out with 3 different friends, one pre-planned and two surprises. These are good friends, longtime friends, friends we used to see much more than we do now. We’re all busy, everyone’s got lots to do, there’s no blame here. But in that true way of letting the now things crowd out the longtime things I’d forgotten how good it is to see these friends, to talk and eat and hang out and walk and talk. They know things about me and my life, I know things about them and theirs. And knowing those things means that it’s easy to talk about all kinds of things: frivolous things and sad things and important things.
I need to try and remember this week. Because it was a busy week otherwise — too much working in the evenings for my taste, and I’m pretty much never getting enough sleep recently. But the time with friends was energizing in much the same way that a full night’s sleep is. I felt clearer and calmer and happier. That’s time worth spending, even if I have to leave the occasional item un-crossed-off on the to do list.
Future me, listen to present me: I know you’re tired, but don’t forget to make time for friends. You’ll thank me, I promise.
