Prime Numbers

It's been a while, a loooong while, since the monkey's have allowed me to settle in and write my next blog post. They've been on overload the last couple of weeks and their swinging has made me dizzy. It feels nice to finally sit and put these thoughts down. One less vine for them to swing from.

I love to read. Nothing too deep. I read for entertainment. To escape. So, I'm constantly reading book reviews to see if the books content interests me. (I'll let you in on a little secret. . .if I don't find the cover interesting, I usually pass up the book. Shallow, I know, but that's how I roll.) Anyway, I read the review of "The Solitude of Prime Numbers" by Paolo Giordano. Mind you, the monkey's in my head have never allowed me to cypher numbers, so the title isn't what attracted me. The book cover has two peas in a pod on the front. I figured it would be about a couple or two friends. I read on and what I read made me stop and think. The review refers to twin primes (two numbers divisible only by one and themselves). Hold on. . .I'm gonna go a little deep. Friendships. It made me start to think about the friendships I have, currently, and the ones I've had for years and years. Which are, truly, few and far between. The review compares this particular friendship in the book as being "so close to each other, almost neighbors" but are separated by an "even number that prevents them from truly touching." Honestly, I feel every friendship is like this in one way or another. Do we ever really come into someones life and stay forever? I don't believe we do. I have dear dear friends that I have had since grade school and high school. We were inseparable at the time. You know, you've signed the yearbooks, "BFF, don't ever change." Guess what? We did. But, guess what else? I still talk to these friends and love them dearly. On a different level. They are no longer the friends I call to cry about my day. To complain about being wronged by someone or something. I have different friends for that now that I'm older. And they, too, have different friends for that. They've moved beyond needing me to play that role in their lives and I've done the same. Life happened. Would I change any of it to go back to the way we were. I don't think so. Because, then, I would not have the relationships I have right now. My husband believes that you really need only one or two "good friends" in your life at any given time. I'm not sure I would go that far. I just don't know about having a true "twin prime". Those friends I had and the friends I have are vital parts of who I am and who I have become. They came into my life and helped me morph into the woman I needed to be so I could be a friend to someone else who needed me in their life at that particular time. I'm okay with that. I'm not trying to be pessimistic about this. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am an ETERNAL optimist! Glass Half Full, I say. I would love it if the bff's we had in grade school were still living down the street, we married brothers and our children play together every day. Sock it to me! But, the older I get, the more I realize the role those friends played in my life and role I hope I played in theirs was really just a "temporary" thing. Dig it? They aren't out of my life and no longer my friends. That would be absurd! We're just playing different roles. So, the next time you're all bummed because you feel like you're losing your best friend in the whole wide world, think about it. You really aren't. You're still going to be friends. You're just going to be divided by more than one and each other. Smooth day!