To The Friends Who Faded From My Life,
I miss you. I miss knowing about the happenings of your daily life, sharing secrets, and listening to your plans for the future. I still remember the random facts and small details that make you ... you. However, I understand that some friendships are not meant to last. People are constantly flitting in and out of our lives. There are dozens of quotes that summarize that statement, and all of them are true. Sometimes people are not supposed to stay in your life forever.
We're practically strangers now. If we're not, we are definitely not as close as we once were. There are no more late nights spent creating inside jokes or long discussions about where we will be 10 years into the future. I have accepted this.
People grow and become different versions of themselves. There are no hard feelings or words exchanged. One day the friendship is there ... and the next it is not. There is something so sad about knowing the intimate details of a person, that they take their coffee black or they snort when they laugh too hard, then going your separate ways.
I could choose to be bitter over our lost friendship, but friendships end all the time. Instead, I want to learn from our relationship. You made me a better person, and I want to take that with me. I can only hope that I had a similar impact on your life.
There was a time when I was not as understanding. Thinking about our shared past made me angry because we were no longer creating new memories. I was upset with the lack of explanation for our broken friendship. I could not accept that sometimes these things happen. People move on in their lives. It is not always fueled by anger. It is true, life gets in the way.
So, instead of being angry or looking upon our lack of a future as sad, I want to be grateful and happy. Dr. Seuss said, "Don't cry because it's over, laugh because it happened." That is how I am choosing to look at our friendship and eventual separation.
I am happy because we shared many laughs, tears, and smiles. We had a genuinely good friendship, one that I can look back upon with fondness. Everyone deserves to have that kind of relationship.
We may have fallen out of touch, but there will always be times when I stop and think of you. In those moments, I wish you only the best. I only catch glimpses of your life through social media, but I hope that it is turning out the way you had always dreamed it would.
Love,
Your Former Friend
