Over the weekend, I got to spend lots of time with the person who has been my best friend since high school, Jenny. In Junior High, when she first moved to Taylorville (a town that I was a transplant into about 4 years prior), I remember seeing this girl in the hall wearing a Lincoln coat and making a rude comment to a friend along the lines of, “how dare she wear a Lincoln coat at Taylorville Jr. High.” (What is it about those Jr. High years that make girls such ugly people?) Little did I know then what the following summer would hold.
And little do I know now what it did hold. Neither of us remember how or when we met that summer, other than it had to have been through our mutual friend Lynette. All we remember is from that point on we were nearly inseparable and were adopted into each other’s families. Through high school, college, boyfriends, marriages, children, jobs, and the other stuff of life, we have always been there for one another. Sometimes we don’t physically talk for a while. There have been times when we haven’t seen one another for 6 months or more. But one thing never changes – the ease, comfort, camaraderie, laughter, lack of stress, heart connection and kindred spirit-ness of our friendship. We have a connection that can’t be explained. We know stuff about one another before any words have been exchanged. We can sense what is going on in the other person’s mind from three hours away. It is beautiful. And it is rare. And we don’t take it for granted.
And this weekend we noticed something else. Our boys have that same kind of connection. They are cut from the same cloth. They have a ball with one another. They are so much like us. They are so much like each other. And it is a wonderful thing (though chaotic at times).
I have many other close friendships, and I am so thankful for each and every one. Friendships are a gift from God. From my longest friend (April), to my newest friends (all you Bacon Lovers), and all the ones in between, my life is richer because of my friendships. And I am thankful that my children get to see me grow and develop good and healthy friendships with many different people, so that they, too, can learn to develop good and lasting friendships in their lives as well. This song goes out to all my friends today. Thank you for enriching my life!
Have you taken time to develop any of your friendships lately? Or thank God for the friends He had given you?