We have another movie that’s about to start, so I want to keep this post short.

This afternoon, some friends from Atlanta stopped by to visit. They were staying at a lodge about an hour and a half up the Parkway. My oldest and I met them at the trail head to a bouldering field just outside our town. The rock was pretty wet, but we still had a good time hiking in and messing around on the stone.

Afterwards, we drove up the ridge, and I showed them our home and our new “neighborhood.”

Then we met up with my wife and my other two children at a restaurant overlooking the valley.

And yes, we ended the night with another trip to the ice cream shop.

I was very aware tonight that even though we have moved away from what had been our home town of some twenty years, our new life here is still very much knit with the lives of friends back in Georgia.

Of course, that doesn’t have to be the case.

All it takes, though, is the effort to sustain those relationships. And it need not be something complicated or difficult. All it takes, really, is the intention–and the action of following through.