Keep the old

There is an old song that my mom used to sing to me:
Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.

The part about keeping the old kept running through my mind today. Today I saw some friends from junior high and high school, some of whom I probably haven’t seen in 10 years. Yet, it was as though we had hung out yesterday. One of them is getting married so we were together for a wedding shower. I have to admit that I was a little nervous at first just thinking of all the questions, “Are you dating anyone”, “what are you doing” , , , and on and on. My fears were driven away when I ran into one of them during lunch, before the shower. I immediately got excited.

For the record, not one person asked me if I was dating anyone — I KNEW I liked these people. And talking about what I was going to do when I graduated — well, it was like talking to an old friend. Maybe that’s because I was talking to an old friend. The poor bride — we all talked right through her opening her gifts!

Some have married, some are getting married, we live in cities across the state, there are kids, some have lost loved ones, careers have changed, we aren’t as good at tennis as we once were, but the core of who we are hasn’t changed. And the time we spent together growing up has created a bond that may bend but doesn’t break. As with most high school kids we had drama but that was buried.

I am grateful for all my friends but today I was especially grateful for this group of ladies that I can still call friends. I hope it doesn’t take another 9 years for us to get together again.