Catching up

And here we are, a year later and no updates.

There are a million reasons I could use for this: blogging was never my full time thing, don't have lots of readers who clamour for my every thought, work takes up too much time - you name it, I've probably used it as an excuse to not write, to not stay in touch, to try and shake off any semblance of responsibility I might have felt towards posting with any regularity.

Truth is, this generally a great way for me to get things off my chest. Things that ping around in the cavernous space called my brain and need to be set down to paper in order to make room for other things.

Lately, I've been thinking about family and frieds. How my social and familial groups seem to expand and contract like water in winter.

There's the immediate family, who are always good for a bit of stress and a bit of friendly bitching. There are the extended family, who always bring in a different viewpoint and some lovely drama to boot.

There's the work family, both current and previous, and then there's the friends who've become family. Lately, these have been some of the most important facets.

I've had the incredible pleasure of meeting some of the most wonderful people in the universe during my travels. Not all of them are with us any more and that's a damned shame. Having others around who remember those who are gone is remarkably theraputic. Memories really are best when shared and the sudden outpouring of comments from all corners of the world when my facebook status reflects a painful time is an incredible reminder that love really is returned tenfold when it's given away.

For those of you who check back periodically, thank you for everything we've shared: 5 minutes, 5 days or 5 years. It all matters and I love you for it.