Charlotte's Web sure is alot like life.

Relationships are such funny little things.

I don't mean juvenile boyfriend/girlfriend hold your hand under the table in the cafeteria kind of relationships. I'm talking complex, interlaced, intricate social webs of coworkers, family, acquaintances, first crushes, sweet old lady with whom you bitched about reality shows with while waiting in line for 15 minutes at Walmart.

The extent of human interation and association absolutely dumbfounds me sometimes.

Have you ever met someone randomly through some twist of fate, and it just so happens that they know someone who is best friends with a girl that works with a boy who is a son of one of the girls you work with? Ok, maybe thats a bit of a hyperbole, but you get the picture.

Not only do these social interactions weave together so coincidently that you are utterly convinced that fate is a sure and true entity, but also the way relationships are forged and hold steadfast amazes me.

For example, one of my very best friends in the world was introduced to me one day in a class that I had absolutely no intention of being in by another of my best friends. The first words out of this eccentric, bubbly, outgoing blonde's mouth were, "I can count to eight! Wanna see?"

Granted, we were 13 and freshman in high school and my smartass response went something along the lines of, "Well I can count to ten... in French!", but the fact remains that it is that seemingly meaningless and trivial introduction that has lead to a friendship of close to six years. A friendship that exists over several hundred miles currentlyand yet somehow still is one of the strongest relationships I have to date.

In the same respect, I findit funny how some relationships just fall apart. Someone with whom you've been best friends simply disappears from your life. Despite years of friendship and hours of laughter and enough inside jokes to fill a novel, there are people who seem to be strangers.

It is these incidences and experiences that have lead me to a recent discovery, albeit seemingly obvious. I have realized the frailty of human interaction. How absolutely fragile the web that binds one person to another through means of interests, disinterests, preferences, happenstance, etc.

So I guess I have this to say about it...

Cultivate.

Help those relationships to grow. Talk to that stranger in the grocery store with the same exact ringtone as you. Fate is real. It sets up the who and where and when and all we have to do is let the pieces fall effortlessly into place and admire it's handiwork. Go with it.

Trust in it.

Know that you have a lifetime here on this planet with billions of other people and it's up to you to make the most of it.

So what are you gonna do when the time comes?