Brooding

I've been in one of my moods for the last few days. It usually starts with something completely innocuous and before I know it I'm in full-on brood territory. Today is no exception. I'm looking for answers to several questions and unfortunately these are answers no one can provide.

I'm questioning a lot of my friendships at the moment. In high school it was easy to know who my friends were. They were the people who would sit next to me at lunch, give me copies of notes from classes I missed, and help me figure out how to talk to a boy I was crushing on hardcore. Once I left my small town for college, our friendships ended and we drifted apart and it was no big deal. In college my friends were my roommates, sorority sisters, and people in my classes. For the vast majority of these people, once college was over and "real life" began, we went our separate ways. I've still got a few of these people that are very dear to me and we keep in close contact, but for the most part my college friendships ended with graduation.

But what about adult friendships? What are the rules of being friends when you are an adult? Since I've been working at the same law firm for the last 6 years I've made pretty good friends with several people I work with. There are a very few though, that I think the friendship would continue were I to leave the firm. These are people who I have lunch with on occasion and we talk on the phone every couple of weeks. These are not the people who I think I could call on in an emergency or if I needed advice about a serious life issue. There is one person who qualifies for that role, but even we have drifted apart in recent months. I assume this is part of the natural state of adult friendships. I don't know. What happens when an adult friendship ends?

I know this: I'm lucky to have the friends I have, I'm lucky to have a husband who loves me and wonderful family. Friends will come and go, but my family will always be a part of my life.