Old Friends

I am lucky to have friends from my childhood  days, friends from my early teens, friends from high school, from work, from church and from everyday life.

I spent some time a couple of weeks ago with two of them, one of whom I had talked to but not seen for more than twenty years, the other I see not often enough. When we waxed nostalgic over stuffed pepper soup, a fresh-from-the-garden salad and blackberry pie it, was like we had never been apart.

The conversation was easy, the hugs were genuine. This is friendship.

I have other friends that make me feel like this, and I hope you do, too. They bring back memories of carefree days of summer, walking home from school on a windy day, picnics in the park, walking along the water's edge. The unhappy feelings seem to melt away in their presence. 

Often on Facebook one sees the question, "which of my 268 'friends' would be there for me if I needed them?"

I can tell you without hesitation who would be there....they are the ones who know me well--my secrets, my foibles, my insecurities, my needs. They are the ones who remember the most insignificant things, like my Betty doll, playing hide 'n' seek in the pampas grass, playing with buttons or paper dolls, sipping Cokes at the old Mason's store--and turning them into everlasting memories.

I hope you have a friend like this. When I need them, they will be around.