Busy and Out of Touch

As a Working Girl, I often find it difficult to keep up with and stay in touch with my friends.

When I was younger, I moved a few times. I'm not talking the next town over, I'm talking halfway across the country. Twice. Since then, I've never been all that great in keeping touch. I've developed a pattern, after losing touch with many friends, of staying close with the people who are close by.

But lately, even with my friends who live in Manhattan, I feel like I'm losing touch. Sometimes I have no idea what's going on in their lives. We are all on different schedules and doing different things on the weekends. My local college friends and I are finally getting together for dinner this week.

With my friends who are further away, I always have good intentions. To-do lists and post-its crowd my dresser with notes: "call so-and-so" or "send friend a birthday card." I even go so far as to purchasing the card but it never gets mailed. You should see the box of cards I have.

Email doesn't make it any easier. After sitting at a computer all day at work, and sometimes all evening to work on this lovely little blog you're reading, the last thing I want to do is type up an email. I've tried taking time if I'm eating lunch at my desk for a few personal emails but I usually get distracted by an email popping up on my screen or a coworker popping up at my desk.

Sometimes I'm even this way with my family. I go far too long between phone calls to my granny and I could certainly call my mom and dad more often to check in.

I should mention that I'm not a phone person. Not at all.

Staying in touch is something at which I'd like to get better. Much better. How do you Working Girls keep in touch with friends and family? My first change: starting this weekend, I'm going to set aside some time on the weekends to make my (few) phone calls and send my emails. Instead of spending my Saturday morning perusing Facebook, I'll actually get in contact with people.