Special Kinds of Friends

An old friend came to visit me last weekend.  I've known her since I was 12 years old.  We've lived in different zip codes since we were 18.  And yet, she's one of those friends that it doesn't matter how long it's been since the last time we saw/spoke to each other, we always pick up exactly where we left off. 

Do you have these kinds of friends?

I treasure these friends immensely.

This friend that came to visit me is not the only one that I have this special relationship with.  When I was 12 years old, my mother moved me (for the 5th time and for what she said would be the last time) to the town that I would later refer to as my hometown.

We moved in June.  I had left behind friends. Friends that I had met just nine months earlier when we moved to that town.  I spent summer pretty depressed--yes I'm using that word, because at 12, I dramatically thought my life was over.  I cried a lot that summer. I was terrified to have to start all over again. This was my 5th school district and I was only in 7th grade.

If I could only go back to that summer and whisper into my 12-year-old ear, "It's okay. You're about to begin friendships that will last a lifetime. You're about to pass notes to these girls and sign them LYLAS* and you will truly mean that for years and years to come."

When September rolled around, I started all over again. And many of the girls that I befriended that fall, I still count among my closest and most treasured friends.

It's not to say that I haven't met some pretty wonderful people since then.  But, no one can ever take the place of these girls in my heart.  We have a special bond and to be honest, I've talked about it with many of them too. So I know for a fact that I'm not the only one to feel that way--guess that really wouldn't be a very special bond if it was just me.

Sometimes I chalk it up to being together for those formative years. We went through our awkward phases together. We went through our bitchy phases together. We went through our silly phases together. And we all came out alive.

I can't count the amount of hours that we spent just hanging around in someone's basement, innocently laughing until our stomachs hurt. We grew up together. We experimented with who we were together. We experimented with who we were apart. And still, all these years later, we made it.

I know that you're supposed to feel lucky if you can count how many good friends you have on one hand. Somehow I can count how many good friends I've had since I was 12 on that one hand.

Amazing.


*LYLAS: Love You Like A Sister