Ya Gotta Have Friends

This weekend I will be spending some time with some very seasoned friends. These are women I have known since early adolescence who know me in a way others don't. We don't see each other often, but make it a point to get together once or twice a year. In between we talk on the phone and do lots of group texts. If you saw our texts, you may think that they are from teenage girls, complete with silly jokes and funny photos. There is a way of interacting that friends from long ago have. It somehow gets frozen in time. No matter how long we are apart, we fall right back into our old patterns and reactions as soon as we see each other. 

There is an honesty from these friends that I have come to rely on. If one of us starts to take herself or life too seriously, the others quickly get her in line. If one of us is hurting, the others help to heal her wounds. When we are struggling with life decisions, we can count on blunt feedback that would be difficult to get from others. But mostly we laugh. Hard. This continues the entire time we are together. There is a shorthand humor among us that cannot be recreated with newer, less seasoned friends. This type of humor can only come through a long history of sharing life's challenges and joys, without judgment. 

Friends give us something different than our families give us. I am not sure exactly how to describe it, but feel very grateful to have it. If you are lucky enough to have friends like this, be sure to hang on to them.