I notice sometimes people are surprised to know I still have very many friends from my childhood. I also make it a point to keep in touch with my friends and, in the midst of our busy lives, we do try to get together once in a while as well. The same way people are surprised that I’ve kept these friends for, in some cases, 35 years, I’m surprised that they have not. Now, friends in any capacity are great. I’m a true believer in surrounding yourself with good people. I also have made some wonderful friends at each different stage in my life, including the present. I have some amazing people I am blessed to call my friends that I have only known just a few years. I just still do not understand how some people don’t keep in contact with their childhood friends.

In my case, I don’t believe there are any people better equipped to know and understand and accept me than my childhood friends. They have seen me at my worst and at my best. They have seen my awkward stage…or years. They know what I look like with a mullet. They remember when I was fat. They remember me before the contact lenses. They still love me!

We know each other’s entire families for better or worse. We still remember each other’s phone numbers.  We knew each other’s pets. We drove in each others cars. We were taken together on family vacations and crazy road trips. We were there for everyone’s first kiss, first crush, first heartbreak, first school dance, graduations, proms, parties, and also for the first devastating losses.

Our parents were by default parents to each kid that walked into their house. They stuck by us and fed us and put up with all of our drama. Mom and Dad were Mom and Dad no matter who they belonged to. When my mom was diagnosed with leukemia and died 3 months later, my friends showed up at my door with mint chocolate chip ice cream and jimmies from Friendly’s.  This is something I will never forget and always appreciate and love about them. Nothing could be said or done to bring my mom back, but these people did what we had always done to cheer each other up. What seems trite to some spoke volumes to me. We still know ice cream can make you feel even better than booze sometimes. Not alot of people get that, but my best friends do.

As adults we have learned that life changes rather quickly and that it’s not going to stop changing. Some changes are good and some changes not. Old friends knew us before all these changes. They knew us at a time when we could just have fun without many of the stressors that we encounter as adults. Spending time with these friends takes me back to when things seemed so simple.  And they were. I need my friends. I will always need my friends. They make me laugh and wipe my tears and remind me of who I really am under the stress that sometimes can overwhelm us all.  They also remind me of my hopes and dreams and of who I want to be and of what I want to accomplish. They support me and they never judge me or my actions or my decisions.  It’s an unconditional love. It is a love like no other love and I am grateful to have this in my life.