One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from poet Robert Frost: "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." Indeed, for better or worse, things will never go back to the way they used to be in our lives. We change and the people in our lives change, which in turn means that our relationships evolve.  Some of us are lucky enough to have friendships that have remained mostly intact for many years -- ones we forged as early as childhood.  But such friendships are a rare breed.  Our experiences over time affect virtually every facet of our lives: personality, lifestyle, beliefs, attitudes, taste in food and music, and so on.  Nothing changes a friendship quite like a major lifestyle change -- from moving to getting married and having kids.  But change isn't always a bad thing. How would we grow if our lives all remained the same? It doesn't mean our relationships have to end; they simply evolve....

I took a gander at my wedding pictures and realized that I haven't spoken to many of the attendees who appear in them since the occasion itself. I also reflected on how different some of these people -- and our relationship -- were when we first met. Life changes us all, some a little more than others. Marriage, kids, moving, shifting jobs and changing interests cause us to drift apart from people we were at one point very close to. It's hard to think that some of the people you would interact with on a daily basis are hardly in your life now. Luckily for us, while people have a tendency to change over time, memories endure. I may have lost contact with many of my closest friends from high and college, but the great times we shared remain firmly seared in my memory. When one of those friends comes to mind, I try to reminisce about the good old days, and not fixate on the fact that we've become estranged of late. This phenomenon applies to even my closest friendships. ...