Then and Now Friends

I've been blessed with extraordinary friends in this life. Some, like the two below, I've had and enjoyed for close to 40 years. Forty. Years. We've literally grown up together. Laughed and cried. Loved and lost. Walked the halls of many schools, drove through town on Saturday nights, ballgames and dances. Campuses and hospitals. Inside jokes and remember whens. Celebrated marriages and babies. Cheered one another and cried on shoulders. Parented our toddlers and teens and stood at the graves of parents. 

No matter what time passes or the distance our lives take us, there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. These two are more like sisters to me who choose to be friends. What treasures. 

A classic is defined as something/someone that withstands the test of time. I'm grateful for the wonderful friends who have stood the test of time with me. We have history together that is so rich and deep and fortunately a future ahead.  To enjoy another generation of family together and all the highs and lows. To laugh til we cry over all the memories made and to look forward to new ones yet to be discovered and created. Friends who know all the secrets and love without condition! Quick to forgive and love without fault. What a gift these girls are to me! 

We gathered for ice cream and a good dose of catching up last night before Michele left for 'home'. Three hours passed like minutes and another "remember when" for our hearts to cling. Lori brought this snapshot from 27 years ago. Our faces so young, full of laughter and hope. Permed hair and smaller jean sizes. No wrinkles or worries. Our whole lives ahead. Looking at us now, aged and yet somehow, I think we're more beautiful than ever, because I know the stories that have made us who we are today. It has been, and continues to be, a wonderful life. 

And all those dreams we had for our lives...better than anything we ever hoped or imagined. Because that's how God is...His ways and thoughts are higher.