Ya gotta have friends...

Lately I've been thinking a lot about friends, mine in particular.  I was thinking of what friends mean to me. I have some friends that have come and gone from my life, leaving me with a life lesson.  I have friends whom I laugh and giggle (and bitch) with at work.  Other friends have slowly faded away with no hard feelings, only lives that have gone in different directions to the point that we no longer have anything in common.  Then there are my old friends.  By old, I don't mean they are actually old (although most are older than me)...I mean the ones that I've had the longest.  As preteens we were brought together as we were uncertain, insecure middle schoolers (or for you M.O. alums...Upper El ).  We went through puberty and braces together, first crushes and first heartbreaks, difficult parents and Mr. Cobb.  Even as we branched off with friends from other "cliques" we always came back to where we knew were safe..each other.  It was really quite extraordinary to be raised by 4 or 5 sets of parents...all of whom were looking out for your well being, pulling for you to succeed, listening to your teenage woes, rolling their eyes at you, and parenting you just like your own folks did.

Life has certainly intervened since our time hanging out by my folks' pool or Friday nights on Lori's couches (eating Doritos and drinking Pepsi) watching scary movies or well...any of the other agonizingly normal (and fun!) things we used to do.  We've gone to college, joined the military, gotten married, had babies, had our hearts broken, changed careers, bought houses, and one of us even found our acting chops!  And yet, despite all of that, when we are lucky enough to get together again, it's as though not a day has passed.  We pick up where we left off like it was just yesterday that we were heading out to the Diner for cheese fries and gravy.  Our old stories still make us laugh and we enjoy hearing about the goings on in everyone's everyday lives.  Recently I was blessed to reconnect with one of these "old" and very dear friends.  It's amazing how much I miss her after seeing her just 2 weeks ago!  I find it nearly impossible to believe we lost touch for 19yrs.  We have much to catch up on and yet it feels like no time has passed.  We will not be letting another 2 decades go by without each other!

It's funny, when I talk to my boys about this special group of friends, I will say "I was 11 when I got Miss Nancy" or "do you know how long I've had Mr. Eric??"  My pals and I have asked each other "When DID we get Steve?" I think the reason I fall into that terminology is because I feel, truly, like I received each of them, much as one receives a gift.  They helped shape my views on the world, my views on what friendship means and in their love for me, I see the very best of myself reflected back to me.  In some divine intervention many decades ago, we were picked for each other and although we have "grown-up" lives now, we still, in some long-ago determined way, belong to each together.