Blast From The Past

I met her when we were three. Three. Can you imagine? I’ll be 28 this week. That is 25 years of friendship. And we’re still so  young. It hasn’t been a straight 25 year best friendship, but we’ve both been there through it all. We grew up going to Sunday School together, we got in trouble for rolling crayons across the floor in 1st grade (why she doesn’t remember that I don’t know), I was crushed when we were put in different classrooms in grade school. Through middle school we played our sports together, got through tough times just growing up. She was (still is) the most talented singer I know. I just tried to keep up in a pathetic attempt to carry a tune. She always cheered me on as I trained and competed in track. We lost touch half-way through college as we were just both in different places and she ended up moving half-way across the country.

There was one day the year after I had graduated that I was driving back to work from lunch and thought, “I miss her. We have been friends for as long as I can remember, and I miss her.” So I gave her a call. I was almost in tears as her surprised voice shook just a bit and she said, “You don’t know how I just wanted to talk to someone from home.” From then on, we were back.

And now we’re better than ever

I was able to meet up with her and another one of my high school best friends while at home for Christmas. It doesn’t matter the different lives we each live, in different cities, with different jobs, different friends. It simply didn’t matter that night. There is just something about being with people who know you. Who really know you. There is something so comfortable about that. There is almost nothing lost in translation because they know your past and it is so much a part of who you are. We understand the WHY. You don’t get that in just a few years of knowing people. Heck, you can hardly get it in 10 years of knowing people. Telling someone your story, your past, isn’t the same as living it with them… and then you get it.

The best part is that you don’t have to explain it, you don’t have to explain yourself. I crave it sometimes. I love my life, I am surrounded by amazing individuals, blessed by the people I have chosen to surround myself with. But sometimes I just crave being with friends who know me inside and out, who know my past, know my family, know my history. Because then I can truly be myself, and it is such a relief.