"Absence makes the heart grow fonder" is a curious expression, one that writers like to use when it conveniently applies and then ignore when they need to express the opposite sentiment. I suppose that it is impossible to have an expression that applies absolutely all the time, but in light of long distance relationships that fail, it seems to be awfully contradictory.
In any case, I have recently found it was true. Although it was not pleasant to be without one of my friends for five weeks while she was in Bangladesh, I found myself so excitedly awaiting her return that I was absolutely ecstatic when I got to talk to her face-to-face. Maybe I did not love her more than I did before, but I certainly expressed my love more intensely (and hugged her periodically while in her presence just because I finally could). I have also recently gotten kind of close to one of her friends who lives in PA. I have only seen this friend in person once in my life, for one day, but we continue to talk like best friends who see each other every day, and I will be so excited to see her in the flesh in August (hopefully) that it certainly seems that absence makes the heart grow fonder in that instance.
On the other hand, with the prospect of college looming, I am desperately afraid that absence + distance + trying to make new friends will be a lethal combination for the future of my current group of friends, but I hope I am very wrong. What do you think about all this?
Hi! It's your friend from PA :) I don't think going to college will change anything for you. Considering how much you love your friends, you will only be super excited to see them. I know that you're going to miss them very much, but once you're at college, I highly doubt you're going to be dwelling on it as much as you are now. There's going to be so much going on and so many new friends that you'll grow just as close with. Absence only makes the heart miss people more! (coming from me though this is kind of ironic... if you know what I mean, haha) But I do agree with 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' more than 'out of sight, out of mind.'
ReplyDeleteKind of funny, like that Joni Mitchell song "Big Yellow Taxi"--"you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone". Not that friends are gone forever when we're at school, but sometimes we need a dose of absence to make us appreciate our friends even more.
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