A Full Heart for Old Friends
After twenty years on Earth, I have met quite a few people, made some friends, and seen a lot of relationships come and go. And although there is intrinsic value on all of my friendships, there is something so sustaining and beneficial about old friends.
I grew up in a smaller town and had the pleasure of staying in my childhood house my entire life. One of my best friends growing up lived a few doors down from me. We would spend our entire summer break in each others front yards. There were endless lemonade and snow cone stands, plenty of games of capture the flag, lots of persuading our parents to let us sleepover, and a few camp-outs in my backyard. We climbed trees and road bikes, walked to the river and ran through sprinklers. All of our free time was spent together on our little 23-house street.
Childhood friends are the sweetest. Now we only see each other once or twice a year if we are lucky, but nothing will ever replace the memories of us growing up together.
When I got a little older, less of my time was spent at my neighbors house, and more time was spent doing extracurriculars.
High school consisted of running and training for cross country and track season. There were seven of us who would pace together on long runs and speed days. All of that time spent putting miles on our shoes turned us into really close friends. After high school, we all went to separate colleges and didn’t do a great job of keeping in touch. It’s pretty common to grow out of friendships, but lucky for me two of those girls I ran with every day are still some of my best friends.
Coincidentally, I am sitting in a cafe-style restaurant in Spokane, Washington writing this right now visiting two of the gals that I love the most.
THIS IS SO CLICHÉ BUT SO TRUE! I think we often forget that home really isn’t a place. Home is the feeling of uncontrollable laughter, the feeling of comfort when you hug someone you haven’t seen in awhile, the feeling of tranquility when you are listening to the catch-up details on your peoples’ lives.
It’s so easy to get trapped in the life that you can see, and forget about the life that lives in your memories. When I go through periods where I don’t feel entirely like myself, it’s because I am beginning to lose touch with the people I love and who can remind me of who I am.
So this one is for my gals who I will always celebrate even when we are thousands of miles apart! I love my old friends with all my heart, the ones who have pictures of my side-swept bangs era and the women who will bring tears to my eyes on their wedding days. There’s so many sweet things I could say about each one of them, but gushing is so overrated so just trust me when I say they are the best.
TEXT YOUR OLD FRIENDS!! I MEAN IT!
see ya next time <33 xoxo
