" You just never know..."

So, today, I talked to a person on Facebook that I haven't seen or talked to in about 16 YEARS(!!!!). Sixteen years ago, my family still lived in Wichita, KS. I was 7 years old. Mostly, my memories are vague at best from my childhood, but I do remember living in a duplex next to the Greens. We used to knock on the wall, as the walls in duplexes tend to be about as thick as a sheet of paper, in "secret code" and talk to each other, even when we weren't supposed to be doing so. I remember building forts for our Barbies and then blowing up our Barbies and their houses with Zac and Gabe, which is the closest we ever came to playing with dolls and Barbies. So, all of us Sterrett girls were a bit tomboy-ish. :) I'm sure if you ask my older siblings, they could tell you more stories of our antics with the neighbor boys, but those are the few that I remember. Oh yeah, and the time us Sterrett sibs got the genius idea to egg the Green's tree in the front yard, which was actually kind of our tree as well since we lived in the same duplex and had a bit of a "joint" front yard. Hahahahaha! Good one! Anyway, back to my original thought process... So, I haven't talked to this person for almost 2 decades. It feels like a number of lifetimes have passed since that time. I've never forgotten about the Greens, but with the business of life and with it's taking you nowhere you planned to go when you were 7, well... you just lose contact. Which is a bit of a misfortune, truth be told. Zac (the older of the Green boys who is my sister Andrea's age) was the closest thing I had to an older brother, and I feel I should grieve for the years lost, as they are many. I am thankful for the bit of "re-uniting" that has happened though.
All this to say... Let us not take for granted the people who are in our lives now. You never know what will happen in life to take you away from those people. And maybe it won't be for years that you're not with them, but it's easy to lose contact when you aren't day-in and day-out with your friends and family.

God, please help me to cherish every moment with my friends and family. I know, for me, life seems to go by in such a hurry and, oftentimes, so many opportunities have passed before I have even had the chance to recognize them for what they were. I want to appreciate the people in my life and I don't want to waste my time on trivial things when I am with them. Help me to recognize significant moments as they come... Thank You, Father, for my family and my friends, who are equally my family. I truly am blessed. I now recognize relationships as Your goodness to me. Help me to not lose sight of that.