Remember high school? Well, to be honest, some of you are probably still in high school. That’s okay. This will apply to you soon enough. Because as all of us HS alum can attest to, the years after graduation go faster than free hot dogs at a baseball game.
{Then: looking awkward, doing something weird.}
{Now: Looking awkward, doing something weird.}
{In high school your name probably flowed right into another. That other was your best friend, your slumber-party companion, your cram-for-test partner, your secret keeper. Your names went together because you were together. At the end of my high school years I was Amy-and-Krissy. And that was fine. Krissy and I were different on a lot of levels but somehow, we became nearly inseparable senior year. I could probably count the weekends she didn’t sleep over on one hand. .
Anyway, one day you’ll be sequestering yourselves in the family room with a fire in the fireplace, pop corn, and hot cocoa on a bitterly cold January night. And the next day you’ll wake up and realize that you have been friends for more than half of the years you’ve been alive. You have literally spent more time knowing each other than not. On that day, you’ll start to feel old. But it’s okay, because I’m slowly learning that it’s better to feel old alongside friends who truly know your soul inside and out, than young alongside people you can’t be genuine with.
I can hardly remember a time when I wasn’t able to speak totally candidly to her. Whether it was about a ridiculous dating situation circa 2004 over Taco Bell, or finding a definition of “success” circa 5 days ago. But the best and greatest thing about this friendship is that even though we have plenty of nostalgic ammo and could reminisce for days, our conversations always seem to stay current. Our visits are always refreshing and invigorating. When we part ways again {because we always have to eventually} I go back to my routine feeling realigned and challenged. The good kind of challenge. I think it’s beautiful and rare to find a friendship that can whether puberty, college, marriage and multiple moves. And I think the key to finding this type of friendship is to surround yourself with people who have qualities you admire. Eventually one of those relationships will click, and you’ll find yourself, like I do, having a hard time remembering when it didn’t exist.
If you think for a minute, I bet you can name-ties that you know. I can: Susi and Lyn; Ann and Terri; Warren and Lauren. You might even be lucky enough to pair yourself off with a few different names. What I’m getting at is this: Life will often call us to part ways from our pairing. And because this friendship is so stable and so easy to pick back up it is easy to neglect it. Don’t do that. Let’s not take our greatest friends for granted. Who haven’t you called in a while? Shoot them a text, give them a ring. God has called us to be creatures of fellowship. Take time to nurture the blessing of friendship.
So raise a glass {of whatever you are drinking at 3:30 in the afternoon} and remember the great friends you have in this life. God has called us to a life of fellowship, and we should never take our greatest relationships for granted.
Amy
