In the various phases of my …

In the various phases of my life – […] – I became friends with some extraordinary people. In each of those phases, I became particularly close to a small circle of individuals, and I simply assumed that I would remain close with them forever. Because we were hanging out then, my thinking went, we’d hang out forever. But friendships, I’ve learned, aren’t like that. Things change; people change. Friends mature and move and get married and have children […]. Over time, if you’re lucky, a few – or maybe just a couple – remain from each of the various phases of your life. I’ve been fortunate; I have friends who date back to high school, and yet, I sometimes find myself wondering why some people remain in your life while others drift away. I don’t have the answer to that, other than to observe that friendship has to flow both ways. Both of you have to be willing to invest in the friendship in order to maintain it.

– from The Return book by Nicholas Sparks