Think about this… you’re sitting on your couch, munching on some chips and all of a sudden you think about your parent(s), or a long time friend, maybe a sibling or a grown child… “I should go and see them”, you say aloud… you sit there thinking about the drive… the gas… having to get dressed… “I’ll just shoot them an email or a text”. . . . At the same time, your parent(s) or friend is sitting home thinking “I wish someone would come and see me, I am so lonely”. . . a few days go by and you’re on your way home from work and you think “I hate to go home to that empty house, its so lonely”. . . your phone alerts you that you have a new message. . . You open it and its from the very person you were thinking about previously, you know, the same one you decided to skip visiting and send a text or email… “Just wanted to say hi n hope you are well, <3 U!” You start to cry. . . You wonder if this person had to same reaction to your message.

How much better would it have felt to have seen that person face to face, to wrap your arms around them and feel the love and warmth of an embrace? Not just for you, but for the other person too. Human contact is an important part of our psychological well being. And we wonder why people are unfriendly, aloof, untrusting and uncaring. Chatting on a social network, text or email is not going to fill the void that you feel when you miss someone!

It is not my intention to come across as preachy… I am guilty of this very scenario and have more than once been angry with myself later for being so self centered and lazy.. . . Now I am not talking about people in our lives that live hundreds of miles away , I am talking about those that are within a short drive. Those that it would be easy for us to go and spend a day with. . .
None of us know when our time on this earth is over. How would we feel if that person that we decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to get out and go visit were suddenly taken from our life forever. . . I think about that whenever I try to talk myself out of taking that drive to see someone that I care about. . .

Having said that, the next time someone that you care about crosses your mind, and they are not that far away, get up, get dressed and go visit them! Put your arms around them and tell them that you love them! I bet it will make your day as well as theirs and you won’t have the guilt of not having done that in the first place!

Upon reflection, I wanted to say that texting, email and social networking sites are great tools and thanks to them, I have reconnected with a lot of classmates and family that live out of state! It wasn't my intention to make these things sound negative!

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I choose not not want to change that. I cant stand being around people

I'm going to call my parents tonight! Thats the second time I've read that and it meant even more that time. Great way with words.

felt lonely for moment

peace

Back in '98, I walked away from my family next of kin. After I left the service, I kept becoming increasingly sensory sensitive, and one day I snapped and walked away into homelessness until 2003, when the VA treated and domeciled me. All that time, no one knew where I was or if I was dead or alive. During that time, my dad died after a long horrible illness. For some reason, his innards punctured, and when he went into a hospital, he contracted the staph there. Then died. Now,.....I live close to fam once again, no longer estranged, and see them often. Everyone has had the veil of ignorance and oppression lifted. What a difference.