Old Friends......

Yesterday one of my friends from long ago came into town.  We grew up together, going to the same school for the entire twelve years.  I see her today as she looked all those years ago.  Young, happy, and just as funny as she always was.  We have friends in common that we grew up with, none of us have changed.   We are sure that we look as young as we once did and it is only other people who have changed.

Funny how our minds play these tricks on us.  What is our brain hiding from us that would be so shocking for us to know?  Could it be we do have more character lines than we did in high school.  Maybe, our hair has changed color, but then who really knows it could be that color on purpose.  We all still talk the same and our giggles are the same.  We all fall into the pattern of who we were in school, the ones that had a lot to say then, still do now.  The ones that quietly listen, still quietly listen now.  And yet, I know we have all changed.  I know that I have become more outspoken, but sometimes hide that when I'm around these friends, I like listening to them, hearing their opinions and their stories.  As I get older, I am a little more outspoken with them.  I guess it is about time, we have been out of high school for 42 years now!

This group of friends I ran around with, had a very close bond.  We had very similar life styles, most lived in the rural area, their fathers were farmers.  We were all in 4-H together, went to summer camp together, went swimming at Orton Pool on hot summer evenings and we went to school from first grade to grade twelve.  We went to football games, school dances, basketball games, ate lunch together and shared the same classes.  Our graduating class had 54 graduates.  We were all pretty close. 

The most fun I remember having with these friends were the slumber parties!  Oh my gosh, I can't imagine anything we did that was more fun.  I had one at least once a year, usually for my birthday.  There were always another one or two besides me that had yearly slumber parties.  We'd all bring our 45 records and play music on the old record player into the night.  We'd giggle about boys and probably did our share of gossiping.  Don't think we ever got much sleep, we had all next day to catch up on that!  We all loved being together and didn't want to waste a minute sleeping.

As adults we had a slumber party at my house.  We left the husband's with the kids and we all got together for an overnight.  We were probably in our 40's.  It was fun.  We always seemed to have something to talk about, we were all in the same stages of life.  We had the same problems and the same joys.  And so it is today, we can still talk together like no time has passed and yet we know it has. 

My friends gathered at my home the year of our 40th class reunion.  It was the only event planned, our class was never very good at planning the reunions.  But the "ole gang" got together.  We laughed about things that happened in classes, the teachers, the classmates.  Oh my, the stories we have.......

Cherish every stage of your life, share it with those around you with joy and laughter.  If you can't share joy and laughter, share the tears too.  We all understand, we all love one another and it will again bring us back to joy and laughter. I celebrate the friends of my youth, I celebrate all the friends in my life, they have helped me be the person I am today.