Old Friends

A long (LONG) time ago… this photo was taken of my friend Sherri and I. We were in high school, and of course thought the world revolved around us. We were on a church youth trip when this particular picture was taken, but in those days you might have also found us cruising around town in her Ford Ranger, or my trusty Escort….going swimming at the lake or chasing boys.

Many years have passed, but we are still friends. This week we were able to get together briefly, which was a lovely surprise. She lives many hours away now, and we hadn’t gotten together in a couple of years.

We’re older now. We are both married. We both have little ones. She has another sweetie on the way. We aren’t chasing boys or swimming at the lake these days, but still we can find things to talk about. Isn’t it just lovely when that happens?

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was also able to meet up with a different high school friend Lori. Here’s a photo of us from long ago. I’m the one with the enormous bangs (geesh, what was I thinking?). Lori is standing in front of her New Kids on the Block poster. How cool were we?

Lori and I had lost touch after high school graduation, but have reconnected recently thanks to Facebook. We discovered we lived quite close to one another these days, and agreed we should meet. I’m so glad we did. Though our lives have certainly changed since high school, our personalities still gelled nicely; and we’ve made tentative plans to meet up (along with our hubbies) for a couples night of board games or some other fun thing.

Sometimes attempting to reconnect with someone from long ago can be a real challenge. Too much time has passed. Too many things have changed. Conversations don’t flow. Awkward pauses stretch for far too long.

I’m happy to report that this was not at all the case when I spent time with these old friends.

"The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart."

~Elisabeth Foley