hey there lonely girl

In this age of social media, texting, blogging, emails and instant messaging, we have so many different means of keeping in touch with our friends.  So why is it that I'm feeling so lonely lately?

I have over 200 facebook friends who I see regular updates from on the news feed.  I see pictures from their trips, find out in real time where they are when they "check in" and even know what they're eating for dinner or watching on tv - whether I care or not. 

I email back and forth with my closer friends checking to see how life is and get a little more information about the new happenings in their lives.

When I feel like sending off a quick sentence or two to my closest friends, I shoot them a text (sometimes getting a response and sometimes not).

But the times when I can go out with my friends in person and laugh or cry or really dig deep into what's inside...  Well, those times are extremely few and far between.  I think I've done that once in the last 5 months.  Just once.

These days my life and the lives of my friends are taken up with work, kids, family obligations and trying to fit in some time to do nothing.  It's hard to find a time in our schedules that meshes.  When time does mesh, we usually don't have the money to go out and do anything.  Then there's the issue that a few of my closest friends have moved away and if I'm lucky I see them once a year.

So how do I get un-lonely?

Do I throw a get-together for some of my friends in the area and hope that they can make it, only to be terribly disappointed when nobody shows up?  Do I try to save up money to purchase a plane ticket to visit those far-away friends of mine in the meantime not being able to buy important things like shoes to replace the ones with holes?  Do I suck it up and try not to care, enjoying the little bit of contact I do have?

I'm trying to do that last part, but messages under 140 characters at a time just aren't doing it for me any more.   I need more depth.   Maybe that's it - maybe I feel like my connections are losing depth.  Maybe I'm at a low self-pitying moment in my life, maybe I'm overly-sensitive,or maybe...just maybe it's not just me.  Am I alone in this one?