Life is simply too damn short.

After high school I left for Boston College (and subsequently McGill), Robbie went to Providence College, Mike went to Notre Dame, and Tom and Josh both went to Georgetown.  They were my best friends in high school, and the people with whom I spent every single day.  After graduating we promised to remain in touch while in college, and for the most part Robbie, Mike, and I did just that.  We would hear from Tom sporadically, but only from Josh on the rarest of occasions.  This is standard fare it seems, as the distance and nature of school makes maintaining relationships very difficult.  Except that during university Thanksgiving is supposed to be the time where everyone goes back home and catches up with friends from high school that they don’t normally see during the year.  Unfortunately my friends and I were never all together again on Thanksgiving, because one or more of us was not around, including myself - I was only home for Thanksgiving my freshman year.  Needless to say, this was my first Thanksgiving at home in a long time, but this year was different.  This year was different because on Friday night Robbie, Mike, Tom, Josh, and I were all together again, but not on our terms.  The week before, Josh’s dad passed away after a long and tough battle with cancer, and we were all together again at his wake.  It was obviously an incredibly sad night, but before leaving we all had one last thing to say to each other: this should not have been the situation that brought us back together.  At that point I made a promise to myself to not repeat the same mistake with anyone that I care about because life is simply too damn short.