But we can always count on her to mail us friendly newsletters, greeting cards, and photos of wildflowers from her latest venture into the mountains. Even the best friendship can only go so far on limited rations of telephone calls and letters. There's something irreplaceable about being face to face. Events to make memories. Times to have a leisurely conversation complete with a real shoulder to lean on.
Joint vacations can be one such touchpoint.
They combine the benefits of enjoying both new experiences and undistracted time together. When Marlene and her husband, Dick, moved to Colorado to be close to their grown children, they left behind special friends Loie and Rod. So the two couples decided to vacation together, away from the demands of their respective lives. Two years after Leslie and Scott moved away, I took on a daycare job and my husband, David, set aside his Christmas bonus so we could begin saving toward a trip to Austria to visit our friends. The benefit from that trip far exceeded the monetary cost of our two airline tickets.