A Tribute to Old Friends

I received a baby quilt in the mail yesterday from Erica, an old friend that I haven't seen in years. It's a beautiful quilt, and a thoughtful gesture that means a great deal to me. As I read the note, I smiled because even after all this time, Erica's crazy handwriting seemed familiar. That's the funny thing about friendships forged in childhood. Years of time and space and life can separate you, but in the end, you still have those moments that link you together, the experiences of youth that you can't forget because in some way they helped define the person you were working to grow into.

I will never forget going to Erica's home to feed her hamster while her family vacationed, and much to my horror, finding the cage utterly and completely empty. My mother and sister and I crawled around the lower level of her house for well over an hour searching for that stupid little thing. I remember feeling so completely heartbroken because I knew how much she loved her animals. How could I tell her her hamster was gone? And under my watch? We found the little escape artist in the darkened corner of the hall closet. I'd never been so glad to see a scurrying ball of fur.

It was at Erica's house that I watched and danced to hours of Billy Joel music videos. To this very day, I cannot hear Piano Man or Uptown Girl without thinking of her. It was in her living room that, in the 5th grade,we watched parts of Dirty Dancing before yanking the tape out of the VCR and hiding it under a couch cushion moments before her mother entered the room. Friendship strengthened through disobedience is sure to stand the test of time, yes?

There are many friends from my youth that I don't keep up with very well. The reality of life is that we grow up and start lives that take us in different directions--that lead us to new places and new friends. We experience events in life that seem far more significant than how we spent our summer afternoons in 1989. Even still, there is something to be said for those friendships formed in youth; a certain mysterious quality to the relationships that exist with people that knew you before you really knew yourself. Our friendships leave imprints on our identity that even years later are still there--still a part of who we are. For that, I'm glad.

Care to join me for a stroll down memory lane? This is by no means an all encompassing list; more a "these are the friend pictures I could find in my old box of pictures" list.

Of course, these guys were my very best friends.
Even when I hated their guts, they were still my favorite.
From the left, Me, Jared, Ehren, and Emily

I'm guessing this was around the 4th grade... That's me on the right,
and Erica.(The baby quilt maker in the flesh.) She shared my love for horses
and worked with me on an extra credit project cataloging horse breeds.We took
riding lessons together for years.

My fellow teammates from my 7th grade Odyssey of the Mind team might
hate me for sharing this one. We won big that year, going all the way to
World Competition. Odyssey of the Mind, and the friendships made on
those teams, 5th grade through 8th grade helped me to love middle school,
 in all it's awkward glory.

Another OM picture, this time in 8th grade with our 1st place trophies.
That's me in the middle. Would that my legs had remained that skinny...

The final middle school picture. Me, on the right
and one of my closest friends through middle
and high school, Jennifer. And yes, that is a giant Moe
head on my t-shirt. Middle school was a strange,
strange place.

That's me and my older brother, there in the middle. We were on swim team
together, ran cross country together... High school was a good time
for us. Even if he would leave me behind if I didn't haul it to his car
after school instead of spending too much time "socializing".
Ever the social butterfly... that was a tough one for me.

Ah, the prom. In all it's terrible awful wonderfulness. 

This was just after graduation, on a trip to the lake with
some girl friends. It was a wild trip, that one. We went
skinny dipping in the lake, just us girls. And then on
Sunday, I convinced them all to come to church with me.
We were a rowdy bunch, for sure.

Anyone who ever spent any time at my house growing up knows all about
the chair in the kitchen where we would sit and watch television,
two feet away from the screen. This is one of my best friends of all time, Billy.
He might have spent more time in that chair than anyone not blood related.

College roommates. My time with these girls was brief, before I up and
decided to get married. But they were cherished friends, strangers that
became friends when we were tossed into each others lives, sharing a
love for denim and belts, tucked in t-shirts and Doc Martins. I love 1999.

Back at home with my high school friends, all probably amazed that they
were attending a bridal shower for a fellow graduate when they'd been out of high school
less than 9 months. Yeah, yeah, I was surprised too.

And finally, this. It doesn't have to do with friends.
But I kinda thought a perm as bad as this one deserved
to be shared. 2nd grade wasn't such a good year for me.
Thanks Mom.