No one knows you like those you grow up with. Posturing is pointless around these folks. They always knew whether you
If you think time stops when you visit your college roommate, try re-connecting with your third-grade nemesis who played Mary in the Christmas pageant while you sweltered under a scratchy sheep costume. Or your senior classmate elected “Miss Popularity” while you were voted “Most Likely to Travel.” Or the
Having now achieved a certain age, I have come to treasure these friendships, even though I lived far away from them for many years. All is forgiven now — well almost all. So after the obligatory family news updates, the “do you remember’s” take over. “Do you remember the time the home-ec teacher ripped out all our aprons and made us start over the week before finals? Or the time Becky stole secret photographs of her sister and sold them to neighborhood boys? Or the summer that June and Vicky drove twenty miles every Wednesday night to meet their boyfriends while their mothers thought they were at vacation bible school? Or the day Wanda backed her
I have many beautiful friendships that came later in life. They have enriched, supported and inspired me. They are no less cherished, but they are different. They did not spring from what I will call generational community. By definition, generational communities accept and take responsibility for their members. We found a place for Linda on our softball team even though she never hit the ball. When Sandy’s ill-tempered little dog Princess died, we cried together. And today, if Sarah needs a ride to the clinic, even though we may cringe at her political views, one of us is there.
These days we choose our friends. People we work with, who share our hobbies, political views, churches, professional organizations. But we may live for years next door to families we wouldn’t recognize at the grocery store. And I think we are poorer for it. If I don’t know my neighbor, I can’t help my neighbor; my neighbor cannot help me. If I hide behind a cloak of anonymity, does anyone really know who I am? Do I?
All of my friends have been and continue to be teachers in my life. But my first grade friends were my first teachers. They taught me the meaning of community. And the lessons we learned together in our first community have supported and united us through the hills and gullies of our lives. That’s why we’re Friends for Life.