About 30 minutes ago, I was sitting outside reading when a friend popped into my head. I haven’t seen them in a few months, but I get glimpses of their life on Instagram every day. These glimpses, honestly, suck. They’re nice, because it’s cool to have some idea of what they’re up to as time passes, but they suck. They don’t do your relationship, or the person, justice. The 10 second clips and filtered photos are just not real. It all pales in comparison to sitting across from them at a cafe or bar, being with them. Hearing them laugh. Seeing them smile. Making eye contact. Touching their arm, saying “OH MY GOD,” and spilling some real gossip that you’ve been dying to tell them.
I stopped reading. I closed my book (aka turned off my Kindle) and pictured all the people I felt this way about, just in this moment alone. The people I wish I could sit across from over coffee or gin & tonic. The people I would see on Christmas Eve if my family wasn’t around.
I pictured all those people at a table together. It was a dope table, filled with all the friends who I didn’t see enough of this year. I removed my roommates, coworkers, or friends I see often, and was left with a table of people who don’t live in the same areas and don’t know each other well. It was my dream table. Oh how I wish I could buy them coffee.