Roads Less Traveled

I don't know how often you do it, but every once in a while I mindlessly surf Facebook and view friend's pages. Friends I haven't seen or talked to in years. Some were once very close to me, some not so much, but everytime I am amazed by how far we've both come and how different our lives are from each other. Sometimes I wonder without the advent of Facebook and other sites like it, would I really care to know about these people's lives? Or them about mine? I mean our e-mails and phone numbers have relatively stayed the same, and honestly, if we wanted to find each other we could, but we don't.
I recently came across a friend's page that I haven't talked to since Senior year of college (after his ex-girlfriend, one of my best friends at the time, admitted she had been unfaithful in their relationship). I always liked the guy, had a cool bond with him. Now he lives halfway across the world, is engaged and seems to be living the life he wants (I hesitate to say he is truly happy with his station because like I stated, we haven't talked in years). How did our lives become so different when, in a sense, we came from the same place? I think about the bonds I'm creating now and wonder how long until these people, that I claim I couldn't do without, will one day just become faces in pictures, on a page, sitting idle in my Friends box on the left side of my computer screen?
I know that not all relationships/friendships are supposed to last forever. Like everything, some things leave to make room for new things. Outlets like Facebook, Twitter and even Myspace throws the mortality of the relationship in your face. Don't get me wrong, I don't feel the sudden need to message people like crazy with the old: "remember me? Let's be friends again, wasn't that fun?!" Let's be honest, we're all at different points in our lives now, and what they have to offer me now may not be what I need or want. I've always been pretty cautious with making close friends for this exact reason.
My college friends are actually having a reunion weekend in DC very soon and I won't be in attendance. Again, I am the rogue friend. I love my college friends and miss them dearly, but there are other obligations in my life that pull me in another direction. Sacrificing one group of friends for another just sucks, no matter the circumstance. Within the next five years I dread being that "fringe friend" at the wedding, or baby shower, or engagement party, that closer friends and family members haven't met because I was never around for key events.
There are moments when I think: "who is visiting my page?" and "do they have the same thoughts I do? Do they remember that time when I was in their life?" At any rate, I truly believe that every person I ever gave the title of "friend" and really connected with I will always remember. They've added to my life experience and left an imprint on my being because without that encounter I would know squat about the world, people, places, and the varying opinions that exist out there.
So here's to friends, young, old, new, here and now. I appreciate your short visit in my life, and even if you don't stick around, I wish you the best on your journey on the roads less traveled.