True Friends.

Throughout life we meet a lot of people; many of them are a handshake, nice to meet you, and we never see them again. If you do see them again, and you recognize them, chances are you have forgotten their name or where you met them to begin with. That’s life. I have a few friends who I can really count on. They are the ones who know me best, have been through the times of my life when I needed them, and they needed me. I know their names, know where we met, and know a lot about them and vice versa. That’s the best part of life. These are true friends.

When we are growing up we have a lot of “best” friends. The term “best” is not applicable because it changes at times by the day, hour, or minute. It’s when you separate from them over a period of time---college, jobs, etc---that they are either your real friends or former ones. Fortunately I have a few of the ones who have continued on for many years and decades. The coolest thing, some of them read “Snap. Shot.” so they are with me every day or so through these writings.

Growing up is tough when you are developing friendships; I look at my daughters and I can think of many friends who were so close at one point and now they hang out with a totally different group of people. Sometimes they come back into their lives and it always amazes me how much they have changed since the last time I saw them. Especially those who have gone from pre-teen to teen; the changes as we all know are pretty dramatic. What’s funny is when you see the boys, and then the girls, and how fast the girls change at such a younger age.

Last night we had a few 13-year old girls at the house getting ready for a party---fortunately not at our house. When we dropped them off at the house where the party was taking place, the boys were all grubbed out looking like they were 13, and the girls, who looked like they were 21, all seemed to fit into place. Very weird thing this thing called growing up. In the end, they are the same age, but boy is there a disparity in the way they look. When you look back just a few years ago, they all pretty much were at the same starting line---hopefully the boys will catch up.

The photo above is of our 2 daughters and their “best friends” along with Ralph of Ralph's World; these two sisters, who I wrote about a few months ago, were adopted from China. When you see all four of them together, they obviously look nothing a like. But when they mix together, and they have known each other most of their lives, they are like sisters. In other words, they are true friends. I am hopeful as time passes they will always be friends---their parents are friends of ours as well---but time will determine that. They will go through school, off to college, and hopefully continue to stay connected. Let’s face it, when you have only so many friends in life, it’s best to build the friendships early so you have so much to talk about later on in life!

Thanks for stopping by.