I've lived in this town for over a year now. I have not made one friend. I haven't met a person that I really want as a friend. I've met people I wouldn't mind as friends, sure. I've enjoyed hanging out and talking to a few people. But I have not related to a person really well at all. I guess I haven't expected to. That takes more time than I've been willing to put into it.

I wonder if I met my friends down south today what I would think of them. What would they think of me? Would we see in each other the possibility of a meaningful friendship? In fact, do we even still have a meaningful friendship? With some the answer is clearly yes. Modern methods of communication make the physical distance a much smaller factor than it would have been just 20 years ago. For others it's not so clear, though. We can blame physical distance for our lack of communication, but my frequent communication with others shows that that is really no excuse. Do we just have nothing to say to each other anymore? Many of my friends are just as unlikely as I am to pick up a phone to call somebody without some clear specific question or information to pass on. I think I answer my phone 10 times more often than I make a call myself. So many of my friends I used to talk to weekly or even daily I now only hear from every couple months or even less often. The number of people I talk to with any regularity is smaller than five.

Despite this, I have rarely felt lonely, and haven't really thought about or concerned myself with it much at all.

I should have learned by now not to drink coffee after the sun goes down.