I remember when I was 17 and my mom got an international phone call extremely late one night. Just a few seconds in the conversation I hear her yelling "Oh my God! I can't believe it!" I could tell that my mom was extremely happy in a way that I don't remember her ever being. It made me happy to see her that way, even though I didn't understand why.

I silently waited until she finished her conversation, eager to understand who was the person on the other end of the receiver. My mom finally hung up and waited a few minutes staring into space still in awe. "Do you know who that was?" I shook my head no. "This was my best friend from college." She spent the rest of the night recounting college tales and inside jokes that she shared with her best friend. We laughed so hard that night, and I wished that my mom's friend could have been there with her.

My mom and her best friend were like two peas in a pod growing up. For the life of me, I couldn't understand why they let so much time go by before speaking to each other again. The truth is that nothing ill happened to break up their friendship. They graduated, kept in touch, each moved to different countries, kept in touch, both got married, kept in touch, had kids, worked, and somehow the keeping in touch part fell off the charts.

They say that if you really want to, you'll make time for the people you care about. I don't quite agree with that. Between personal hurdles, work, family, daily responsibilities, schedule conflicts and making time for yourself, it becomes harder to keep up with all of your close friends and meet up regularly. And in no way does it indicate that you care less about them. In fact, you still reminisce about all the good times you've had, call to catch up whenever possible and look forward to the next time you see each other. Real friendship doesn't withstand time by talking and seeing each other every day but grows through patience, understanding and consideration.

When I was younger, I used to think of life in a very simplistic way. It was either this way or that way, black or white but never gray. To me, it made sense that if two people didn't see each other it was because they didn't really care to. However, the older I get the more compassion I am developping. When I was 17, I didn't take into account that people had different interests, which could lead them to separate paths. I also didn't take into account that just because you don't see or talk to somebody every day doesn't mean you don't care about that person.

But now, I understand why it had been so long since the last time my mom and her best friend had talked, and it wasn't because they didn't love or miss each other. Instead of analyzing things in that way, I chose to look at their friendship in total admiration thinking, "Wow! What a beautiful thing that after all these years they haven't forgotten about each other and can laugh and pick up things right where they left off as if no time went by."

So maybe I shouldn't focus so much on how to keep up with my friends; instead, I should enjoy the ease in which we can laugh and have fun when we do see each other.