Missing Old Friends

I've been missing old friends and the UK again lately. I've always said that the 2 years I spent on my own in England were the best, most formative years of my life. I went there a young 17 and left an older, and just a little wiser 19. A lot of people would laugh and say 2 years is nothing but I really think that had I not spent those couple of years abroad, in semi-independence, I would not believe as I do about things or relate to different people as I do today. There really is value in being by yourself and learning things first hand, a lot of times, the hard way. There is nothing like self-discovery. I think that was the greatest gift my parents ever gave to me. I hope that I'll be able to give my children the same opportunity when the time comes that they need to go out and find themselves. And I hope as well that when that time comes I will remember what I am feeling right now and have the strength to let them go to do what they need to do.