Is This Real Life?

Two weeks ago, our family was mid-graduation mania. We were driving to one in SC and also prepping for one here in Atlanta the next day, with lots of parties and family visitors in between. I saw friends of friends of friends, and caught up with people I hadn't seen in years. Young kids who were just graduating high school were now graduating college. It's amazing what some of the people from my hometown are up to these days. And it's also amazing how much life can change in front of you when you are just getting through each day.



I just had to post this kid. He cracks me up every time. My fav is around 1:33, "I feel ... I feel funny. Why is this happening to me?!"

Last night I had a conversation about social networks. Not the online ones, mind you, but the real life version. Many people have one of close-knit friends -- people they have known since elementary school, ones they have crossed all major life milestones with. When they think about getting together with their "friends," they immediately think of the one group. It is stable and awesome and lifelong.



But then mine... This blog alone is an example of my type of social network. I like having lots different types of friends. Ones that I work with. Ones that I workout with. Ones that all know that other one person and we only really see each other at that one party a year. Ones I went to school with. Ones I like to gossip with. Ones I have never even met in real life but talk to every day on Twitter. I don't run with just one group or another. I was never one to have just one best friend. Each of my friends holds a special trait, one that I hold dear to my heart. I value learning from and sharing things with all of these people. They challenge me, and I them.

You all rock, by the way :)

Somehow, though, at the end of the day, I can't help but wonder where that leaves me. Just like the lives of those grads, my life continues to shift each passing month, as do those of my friends. I do not have that close-knit Ya-Ya group of 5 or 6. Friends have moved away; new ones have moved in to town. People have gotten married, split up, had kids, gone back to school. Sometimes, I feel like I am floating around this big network with no serious ties down.

I won't lie. Underneath, I am a little jealous of the whole close-knit friendship thing.

I am curious -- how does your social circle work? Are you one in the middle of a big, loose network, or one of a few in a small, tight one? What do you like or dislike about it? Has it changed over the years, or stayed the same?