I'm losing one of my good friends (and occasional crush) this up coming week. He is moving to D.C. to work for this amazing not for profit Rails to Trails which essentially turns old railroad tracks into bike and footpath trails. A majority of the trails connect areas of cities and smaller towns in a manner that encourages commuting via bike or foot. Its a fabulous enterprise as far as I'm concerned and I'm very excited for this friend as he is the first person that I know who will be putting our useless MFA to work (he will be a communications liaison, writing for their website and print journals) and because of that I'm very jealous.

"Losing" this friend has gotten me thinking about how transient the people in our lives are. They come and they go, mere blips on our radar unless we choose to make them more. There are people from high school and college that, at the time, I couldn't imagine my world without. Now, we barely speak to each other and I'm not even upset by that.

I included a picture above from the classic 1931 James Whale version of Frankenstein. In this scene the monster, played by silver screen legend Boris Karloff, befriends a little girl. The two throw flowers into the water, watching them float away, until they run out of buds. Frankenstein, not comprehending the game, picks up the girl and throws her in the water, expecting her to float like the flowers do. However, being more dense then the petals, the girl struggles, sinks, and drowns. The monster is confused and ultimately feels equally bewildered that his new found friend has left him, unsurprised that she has, and a little betrayed.

Truth be told, this is how I have felt about my "friends" for a long time. I am confused that we could mean so much to each other during the time that we spent together, yet mean so little afterwards. I am unsurprised as our friendships slowly dissolve into nothingness. And I am a little betrayed when we don't put more effort into remaining friends.

That being said, I wish my erstwhile crush, fellow Team HOTT team mate and, above all else, friend the best of luck in his endeavors. He deserves nothing less.