An Evening With Old Friends

Visiting with old friends is like a day at the beach!

I just had the delightful experience of spending an evening with some of my oldest friends. I have known these ladies for over twenty years. Most of us went to middle school and high school together. One of the joys of growing up in a small town, is that you know just about everybody. Not only do you know everyone, you know their parents, grandparents and siblings. You know their back story and they know yours.

We did a lot of reminiscing. We talked about our favorite high school teachers. We talked about high school crushes and old boyfriends. We talked about high school pranks and shenanigans. We talked about our parents and what they did and didn’t know about the things we used to do. We talked about the horrors of riding the school bus.

We talked about our children and husbands and shared tons of pictures with each other. We posed for pictures on Instagram like a bunch of high school kids. We laughed and laughed until our sides hurt.

We shared stories of health issues that our parents are facing. We shared our own stories of the inevitable pitfalls that occur after turning forty. We have hormonal issues and weight gain. We have worries and wrinkles, but we also have wisdom.

We are all artists now in some way. We have a jewelry maker and two painters. We have homemakers and some awesome mothers. We all are creating beauty in the lives around us.

We grew up in a college town, and as we looked at all of the college students who were standing around, we all grumbled a little about feeling old. But, as I looked at those college kids,  I have to say, I felt gratitude for my forty-something trips around the sun. Sure, it would be nice to be carefree and wrinkle free again, but it feels pretty good to be comfortable in my wrinkled skin and to know who I am and what I believe.

And truthfully, as I look in the mirror these days at my brown spots and wrinkles, I try to ask myself, if I could trade all of those days lying in the sun with these girls for perfect, flawless skin, would I trade? The answer is an unequivocal, no. I have earned all of these crow’s feet and boy, was it fun!

I am very busy these days, just like everyone else. I had a hundred reasons why I didn’t have time to make the trip to Milledgeville for a visit, but I said yes. I had an aunt who died many years ago, of breast cancer. She always said that if a friend called her to do something fun, she went. She said the mop bucket would be there when she got back. Those were wise words.

Visiting with old friends is like a trip to the beach. It’s fun and refreshing and you can’t wait to go back. They “get you” like no one else can and that is priceless. I am going to make it a point to say “yes,” when friends call, because friends are one of life’s greatest blessings and enjoying them is a way of saying thanks to the One who gave them to us. What do you think? Feel free to comment.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂