These quotes really stood out to me:

1. “When you have a highly nomadic life as a TCK you lose your world over and over again every time you move.  In turn with each move and each series of losses you equally cycle through stages of grief, just as you would with loss of a loved one.” 

2. “But to be fair I cannot bring myself to get rid of a whole class of ‘friends’ from my social feeds because junior high was so long ago. If I had grown up in one or even just two places as a child than it might be a possiblity. However since a TCK experiences this cycle of loss in regard to friendships and personal identity, I cling to the many places in my life where I grew up.”

3. “What has placed this subject so close to my heart recently is looking back at friendships that I am clinging too.  As someone who has moved so much and has had to say goodbye so many times, I have still fought for many friendships to keep going. There is a misconception about TCKs that we do not let ourselves get to close to people, or that we can easily just walk away.”

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I’m glad to have read this. I’ve mentioned it in another comment, but I have felt so guilty in my life for not living up to my friends’ expectations of me or at least my projections of their expectations. Of being a friend who moves, who goes, who doesn’t stay around physically. I feel like sometimes they fail to understand that when a friendship is true to me, it ALWAYS sticks with me. I care so much… and in the past few years, I’ve actually closed off myself to most people in my life as a way of coping with the pain of not being able to be as much of a friend to everyone as they may expect me to be. I’m starting to rebuild slowly and understand that THIS IS A PART OF ME and ALWAYS HAS BEEN. I’ve always made friends without limits — whether I would know the person for a few hours, or potentially for a lifetime. That never determined it because I always saw friendships as greater than any sort of distance or proximity. But in some people’s definitions, that’s not the case. But that’s why sometimes you have to let go. I don’t really delete people on FB, but I can understand that maybe their needs show that they have to get rid of the “excess.” But like you, I don’t see people as “excess” but as living, walking, breathing memories and connections.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I really, really, really am glad I found your blog!