Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

I'm so lucky. I have such great, great friends. Having lived in Portland for 33 of my 38 years, it's pretty easy to have built up quite a group of friends. I have made so many wonderful friends - who I consider "new" - in my 20 years at BPA and at my children's schools. Yvette, who I lived with in the first house I owned, is someone I met at BPA and one of my closest friends ever. I met Molly at Ashe's school. I truly believe she is the definition of soul mate, just because we are similar in so many ways and clicked from the moment we met.

Luckily, though, my old friends are still around too. They come through Portland from time to time. Last week I saw my friend Trina from high school, who I haven't seen in 15-20 years. Today I saw Stephanie. I met Stephanie in 2nd grade. She and I literally grew up together. We had times when we were closer than others, but ALWAYS were in each others' lives. Her parents came to parties at our house. We got in tons of trouble together (smoking and stealing dirty books from my dad). Since I went to a high school that wasn't my neighborhood school, basically none of my childhood friends came with me. Stephanie did, though. We suffered together. We were both from NE Portland, the "other side of the tracks". We rode to school together every day. When I got my license, I drove us. Even though we didn't hang out in the same circles in high school, we always had a bond because of riding to school and smoking at school breaks (did I mention we were sorta naughty?)...

I went to Stephanie's wedding several years ago, but haven't seen her since. We trade Christmas cards and TRY to get together when she visits, but never have. The boys and I went to her mother's today and can I just say it was so great to see her!?! What a nice visit. She lives in Eden Prairie, MN. and has three kids, Dylan, Derek, and Sydney. Ashe and Dylan have a similar temperament. Dylan sat on Ashe's lap at one point. Derek and Finn are both germ freaks. It was funny when I heard her son ask her "Did anybody drink out of that [cup] mom?" That's something Finn's said to me many, many times. Stephanie's dad came by and her sister, Stacey (expecting a son in January), came by too. It was a crazy, wonderful blast from the past.

It's so cool to have hung out with someone I've known most of my life. It really was like I just saw her yesterday. She looks just the same...what a fun, fun time.