Party, now and later

Saturday night, the hubby and I attended a retirement party for one of the surgeons I used to work with. I hadn't seen most of these people in over ten years, since I moved onto my current position. I have talked to some of them on the phone or kept in touch by e-mail, but in general I've had very little one-on-one interaction with many of them.

E-mail and Facebook and all the other internet social networks are a great way to meet people and stay in touch with old friends. And since I tend to hole up at home, in my basement office writing, whenever I can, I really don't get out and see many people outside of work.  I also feel so pressed for time on a daily basis that I put off going out with friends or visiting relatives.

Sometimes I think that is really quite a shame. We humans are social animals. We need the touchie-feelies, whether we like to admit it or not. We need to work on the relationships we have, even if that means that the house doesn't get cleaned or we don't meet some deadline.

I wrote this on my lunch-half-hour at work yesterday. On the way home last night, I called my mom as usual to see if she needed anything. She said she had some bad news but wanted to wait to tell me until I got home. Really, Mom? You need to just tell me now.

Her uncle, who turned 104 years old in January, had passed away. We say that life is short, live it while you can. Uncle George's life couldn't be considered short and he did live fully right up until the end. It still leaves me very sad, with a bit of a hole in my heart. But I know that we will meet again, that one day in heaven we will have a party with all of my family and friends who are believers.