A little story about coming full circle. (Right now I feel like Doogie Houser... um... did that just date me?)
This morning I went to my friend Stasia's house to drop of some jeans she'd left here when doing laundry. It was a new experience, because Stasia's lived in DC for the last four years, and in the time we've been best friends, we've been apart more than together I think. (we met on the first day of kindergarten and when I moved away in elementary school we didn't see each other a lot until high school and college). But now she's here!
Tonight I met for supper with another friend Bethany and her husband. They're leaving for missions in July. And Bethany... well, she's just always been around. We went to church together, summer camps, overnights, retreats, everything. She stayed close to home for college so we've just gotten to see a lot of each other. Now she is going far away and I will not see her very often anymore.
Two friends, who I've known most of my life. Very different roles. One moving home, the other moving far away. It's that circle of friends, the friends who walk with you on the road for a while and walk away and you never see again, and the friends who stay no matter where they are and what in life changes.
And there are all these people in between, who have tacked themselves into my timeline, people I really love and who "get" me and who've walked with me through all kinds of things. But Bethany and Stasia, well you just can't replace 25 years of friendship, of really knowing each other. Of not having to say, "Oh, well when I was in middle school, I was really into Star Trek." or "I used to have long stringy hair and lots of zits and I was a complete dork". I don't know if that means anything in the grand scheme of life, because there are other people who have seen my heart and know me as I am now.
But these gals really do know me.
There are personality pieces, nuances that get hidden in growing up, places that we don't let show and hide behind our adult masks, that belong inside of us, that make us who we are. And when we're with the people who saw us in those raw times, the moments when we were at our ugliest and worst, and even at our best and most beautiful, we become more of who we really are.
And no matter where they go, or where I go, I will always feel at home with Bethany and Stasia, the best examples of BFF's. (Cheese ball, I know. I can't help it. I'm stretching for stuff to write these days).
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What I really appreciate about you, is that even though we've known each other these 25 years, is that you still let me be who I am at this moment. You don't let who I have been get in the way of knowing me now. Yet, because you have the fluid long-term view of me, you don't let the me that I am now get in the way with the big picture of who I am. Thank you! Thank you for allowing me to be completely real with you! Thank you for realizing that when I get off track, I eventually (hopefully) get back on track, so I can be vulnerable and weak before you and know I'm still loved! Thank you!
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