Friendship never ends...

The title of this blog is deceiving. Because friendships do end. All too often. People are selfish. People change. People move on. And friendships become mere memories.

But then there are friendships that seem to endure through anything. True friendships. Friendship that can sleep for months and wake up in the same place it was before. Friendships that are strengthened my memories, mistakes, and many moments. Friendships that are clothed in prayer, respect, and laughter. 

I am blessed with some of those friendships.

 

Senior year - getting ready to go see Phantom of the Opera.

Tonight I am going to my best pal's house for a Christmas party. Seven other godly, beautiful women will be there as well. I didn't meet these friends in college. Or at work. I met these beautiful women when we were nothing but girls...playing on the playground, dreaming about boys, and wondering about the future.

I have so many memories with this group of friends - as a whole. But more than that, I am blessed to have an album of memories with each friend. When their names cross my mind, a million moments play out like a movie in my heart, and I can't help but smile. I wish I could share them all with you. All of the laughter, the late night talks, the classes and the sleepovers, the beach trips, the Homecomings, the tears,  the smiles, the conversations, the boys, the mistakes, the memories...

 

Freshmen year college - Bethany's birthday

I never thought that my group of friends experienced the high school drama that is stereotypical of most teenage girls. Looking back now, though, I smile at the things we got upset over. The things we let come between us. The things that threatened to pull us apart and may have for a little while. We were so young. So caught up in our world. But that's just it...we were each others world. And, no matter how petty at times, it was a great world to be in.

 Sometimes I miss high school. No, I'm not one of those people. The ones who dwell in the past...and wish they could go back to their high school "glory days". I was not the "glory days" type. But sometimes I miss the routine of gathering around the blue lunch table and sharing our macaroni cheese and goldfish. Sometimes I miss the thrill of homecoming and the sleepovers. And I miss the moments that we took for granted.

 

2009, Bethany's wedding!

 I am so blessed that my relationship with these girls has only grown. We see a lot less of each other now. Talk a lot less. And our lives aren't daily intertwined any more. But we respect each other more. Care about each other more. Love each other more. And realize the importance of real friendship. I celebrate with these women, mourn with them, laugh with them, pray for them...

 

2010, Whitney's wedding!

So, tonight I am going to my best pal's house for a Christmas party. I can't describe how amazing it is that we're all grown up - together. Things that we once dreamt about as little girls - we now get to experience together. We've all changed, but we're all the same. And we still fit together as if nothings changed. 

Tonight I will look around the room and remember being sixteen. Remember the sleepovers where we wondered about college and boys...what we would do, who we would be, who we would marry...Tonight I will see in the faces of my friends who they were at fourteen, seventeen, twenty...but I will appreciate so much knowing who they are now. 

Tonight we will laugh about old memories. But we will make new ones.