Forgetting what you love

I saw Iron & Wine in concert last Friday. I love this band, but I hadn't listened to the CDs much in a while. The concert was amazing, and I started thinking about how I had forgotten how much I love them. It happens...I discover new bands/singers and spend my time listening to them, and sometimes the old loves don't get as much play time. Then something happens, like going to a concert or hearing a song on the radio, and it reminds me how much I love that band, and then I want to listen to them constantly for a week or so.

That made me think about how that happens with other things in life. Like when you have a friend who you love to spend time with but then you both get busy and don't see each other as much and you start to forget how much you loved spending time with them. I have a friend I met at work; we bonded over a shared negative experience and became good friends. Last year she moved away; at first I really missed being able to talk to her nearly every day. Then I got used to it and started to forget what great conversations we had. We still talk on the phone occasionally, but it isn't the same. I'm going to visit that friend soon, and I can't wait to have the opportunity to spend several days together talking like we used to.

That sort of thing doesn't just happen with friends either...it can be a hobby, a book, or some other thing. (I realized that it is about time for my every-5-year-re-read of Lord of the Rings.) Then something happens to remind you of how much you love that thing, and you suddenly have a renewed interest and love for it. But why do we wait for something to remind us?

I think that this world is so crazy now, we are constantly bombarded with new and "better" things, and it makes it really hard not to develop a little bit of AD/HD when it comes to friends, dating, music, books, hobbies, etc. But I think it is important every now and then to remind ourselves that sometimes no new thing can compare with the love that we had for the old thing. Yes, sometimes the new love can become stronger, better, but I think it is still a good idea every now and then to go back and revisit the old thing and start a new love affair with it.