The picture to the right is not my long-time friend Emily. However, it is someone who shares her name and crops up in the google image search when you're looking for some visual interest for your post. I forgot to bring a picture with me this morning so that's the best I can do. Anyway, my good old friend Emily Bliss emailed me the other day. It turns out she is in Durham for a short visit from Pakistan, where she has been tutoring, working to organize schools for street children, working on a novel (her 3rd? 4th?), and shocking the local population by walking her dogs without a male chaperone.

I read a book once about how, no matter what you do, you will always have two types of friends in life. One the author called "friends for the road." These are people you meet and share part of your life journey with but then part ways. The authors encouraged their readers to recognize that these types of friendships are valuable and inevitable. You should appreciate them while they last, and afterward, accept that you can't invest in everyone you meet, that people's lives drift in different directions, and that you should let go of these relationships while valuing the brief time you shared.

I am a ridiculously extroverted person, and I honestly feel bad that I don't maintain every friendship I've ever made. At times it has kept me up at night. Really. But the idea of "friend for the road" has helped me have peace about the close friendships that have faded.

But there's a second type of friendship called a "friend for life," which doesn't seem to fade, even when you don't put much effort into it. Sometimes I'm surprised by who have become my friends for life. Sometimes they are the people I connect with deeply, sometimes not. Sometimes I can tell you exactly what I like about them, and sometimes I don't even know why I'm friends with them. Brooklynne, Ryan, Cory, Matt, Brian, David, Kristy, a few others--I won't list them all--and a handful who may go either way. Only time will tell.

Well, my point is that Emily is a friend for life. Surprising? Not really... maybe a little. I haven't kept up with her well at all. I didn't even know she was in Pakistan. But it's comforting to know our paths will continue to cross and we can pick up right where we left off.

If you want to read a rather fascinating account of life as an ex-pat in Pakistan, I highly recommend her blog, which can be found here. When I see her tomorrow, I will ask if she plans to continue posting after she returns east, and if so, I will add her to the blogroll for your continued enjoyment.

So now I have to give you something to write about in the comments, right? So if you feel so inclined, tell about one of your friends for life or one of your friends for the road. I'll look forward to hearing your stories.