Friends

Recently, I had a wonderfully long phone chat with a very dear friend. Rebecca and I met when I was 13. My family had relocated to Brisbane, Australia, and I was pretty much a total fish out of water (even more than most adolescents!). When we moved, I left behind the house we’d lived in since I was three, and all of the friends I had grown up with. I felt pretty traumatized.

But I have to say that Australia itself was no hardship. It’s an absolutely beautiful country, with the most amazing people. We made some amazing friends there, people that I still miss all the time even 13 years later. Becca and I were inseparable. We sat next to each other in class as often as possible, made up our own language (mostly just code names for the boys we had crushes on), passed notes, and did all the other things thirteen year old girls should do. My family adored her, and we made her an honorary member of the family and swayed her with offers of yummy American food.

I haven’t seen Becca since our last visit to Australia, and we had mostly lost touch in recent years. We reconnected through Facebook and our blogs, and have enjoyed catching back up. While we got many beautiful gifts when Larkin was born, Becca’s handmade raincloud quilt and Australian alphabet book were easily among my favorites.

I would have ironed it, but it just gets used too much!

I was amazed when I received the quilt in the mail. I’ve always been a storm lover, especially when we were in Australia (no tornados there!). While I was on bed rest, Houston went through some particularly rainy months. I used to lie in bed, and long for rainy days spent cuddling with the little one and dream about afternoons spent splashing in puddles and exploring a muddy world. Getting that gift reminded me that some friends, no matter how long you’ve been separated, always know you better than anyone else. She couldn’t have made a more perfect quilt if I’d picked the pattern myself!

Catching up with Becca reminded me how insanely blessed I am with my friends. I have managed to keep up with friends from my earliest childhood, throughout my school years and youth group time, and into my college days. I hold on to these friends tightly, loving them even when we are only able to keep up through Facebook. I feel so blessed to have inside jokes that still crack us up five, ten, even twenty years down the road. 

Speaking of inside jokes...

Saturday, I have a lunch date with some of my sorority sisters to celebrate one of my dearest friend’s birthday. These girls are my lifeline. We’ve been together through midterms and exams and late night cramming sessions. Several of us pledged together, then lived through the nightmare that is rush week every year. We’ve held each other’s hands through new boyfriends and when those boyfriends become exes. We have walked down aisles and thrown baby showers. They love on my son and look at me like I’m some crazy new specimen when I tell my mommy stories.

Today, I had a play date with a new friend I made in Ladies Bible Class at church. Her son Grayson is only a week older than Larkin and I love getting together with her. She’s such a sweetheart, plus it’s so nice to get together with someone who is in the exact same baby boat as you. We never have to apologize when our little ones get fussy or just generally act like… well, babies.

I don’t make friends easily. I’m pretty awkward and a little shy. When I first meet people, I tend to be a little aloof. I don’t trust easy or let down my guard. But every now and then, when I click with someone, I consider them family almost immediately.

I have friends who have kept me amused, and friends who have kept me alive. I even have a few who have done both – on a regular basis.

Not naming any names.

I do not wish for popularity for my son. Popularity is a contest, one whose prize can disappear in a moment. But one of my most fervent prayers for him is that he finds friends as true, as loyal, and as amazing as the ones I’ve found.